A Secondhand Robe

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 I was talking with the pastor. I said... I asked him yesterday to call me, and come to find out, I just... All day long there was no calls, and I thought, "Well wonder what's wrong? Something's... Everything's so peaceful." And after awhile Sister Woods come up with a handful of calls; my phone had went out. So, if any of you had called... The phone rang, but it wouldn't echo in there, so the trouble was down at the switchboard. They fixed it about eight o'clock last night, or maybe a little before that, and the calls are coming through now.

2 We're happy to be in the service this morning. I got an awful cold, that usually I get when I come home. Wade around in snow up to your waist, and sleep out at night, never think of it away from here, but just cross that hill there at New Albany is all you have to do to get in this valley, then I got a bad cold. And I don't know, there's something right in the valley here that keeps down, low and it just don't agree with me at all.
Now, we're happy to be at the church, as I said, and to be hearing our dear good pastor offer his word of petition for us, to the Lord Jesus. And to hear... Sad to hear so many sick and needy and how the devil is on the rampage; making everybody sick.
And a little lady raised up about her sister back there. And I know Sister Sires down there, was with her. The doctor sent her home to die now. And she still believes she's going to be healed. And she's in a serious, very serious condition. My mother-in-law, the same way. Seventy years old now, she's in very bad condition. Certainly a lot of sickness around the country. And then there is a Holy Spirit around the country, see, that heals our sickness, if we can only find favor with Him.

3 And now, being that my throat is sore ... not sore, but it's raw; and I'm not going to try to preach but just speak to you awhile from the Word, and then go into praying for the sick, which I'd promised to do. But just before doing this I would like to announce some more meetings.
In my services I have had kind of a little opposition of ... not opposition, but just a little misunderstanding. And many times I don't have the outlets to my service as many of the other brothers on the field has, such as radio and television and magazines and so forth. And in doing so why, someone would say, "Brother Branham's to be here." And I'm advertised in three places for this week, just today, three different places. One down in Kentucky, two in California, that I know of. And there's nothing you can do about it, 'cause I haven't got any other official outlet, so it makes it kind of hard.

4 And if there happened to be someone from down around Madisonville, Kentucky, here, I was announced to be down there last week and I didn't know nothing about it. And I come home and they had announced it, and the brother that did it by the name of Eppings (I believe that was his name), with all good faith he did it. He called me and asked if we could just drop down to be a blessing and get a blessing from his people. And he called, I told him to ask Brother Moore. Well then, I had to leave. I told him I had to leave the same day. Well, Brother Moore failed to let anyone know. And when... Or, let me know or let my wife know.
So, I was up in Idaho and just come back and the meeting was on. So, I seen doing that... It can't make arrangements from Louisiana for things that's going on here. So, I just took over the arrangements myself, to make my own arrangements for the meetings until my meetings has... I just kind of...
Oh, I don't know, I think confession is good for the soul, don't you think so? I've just been too dilatory about these things. And just letting anyone anywhere just haphazardly let it go. And I find out it doesn't pay. After a long time you put... You have to have some system to it.

5 And now I am trying to make the arrangements and I'm going to see Mrs. Arnold. There's a man here in Louisville that's been very good when I was having meetings here. His name is Brother Durvan, and he wanted a night or two service. I'm going to see her little Teddy, I believe Teddy Arnold, for some time this week.
And then the coming Saturday and Sunday, if I can, the Lord willing, I want to be down at Madisonville. They had twenty-five, thirty ministers out there. All of them sitting there, come for some six, seven hundred miles. Well, no one there, so... wasn't there. And no fault of my own, but I just through misunderstanding or neglecting to call him. I'll try to be down there next weekend, the Lord willing.
Then on the fifth to the sixth, I'm in Brooklyn, New York. And then from... Then on the 14th, 15th, and 16th in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Just made those two arrangements last night and this morning. Now Charlotte, South Carolina, is just on the list, but I don't know. Then the holidays come on and we go over to the West Coast, which they're fixing a big auditorium meeting. Now, these are little meetings, like in high schools and things like that. The one over there on the West coast is going to be two cities, a joint city, a meeting of Oakland and San Francisco.
And then the Phoenix delegation, being that Brother Roberts can't be there this year, I'm to kind of take his place down at Phoenix in the whole Maricopa region meetings. That's a union effort. And pray for me because I need it. And I realize that every time faith sets itself up, the devil turns every gun in hell right on it like that, you see. So it makes it pretty hard.

6 So, this morning, to pray for the sick. I want to read some of God's eternal Word and speak just a few moments from the Scriptures and then have prayer for the sick. Oh, how I love to talk about Him, don't you? I just love to talk about Him. Now, I want to read out of the Bible, II Kings the 2nd chapter, the 12th verse, a portion of it.
And Elisha saw it, and ... cried, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel, and the horsemen thereof!
And now, for a way of a text ... or, a subject, I want to speak on A Secondhanded Robe. So, may the Lord add His blessing as we talk to you this morning. And you be in prayer for us.

7 During this time of the reign of Israel in the land, Israel was a nation. And it was a mighty nation, and it was kind of a peaceful time among the military part of it; but in the spiritual part of it, it was kind of a time of impersonation. And if we look back into the Old Testament, we can always find examples of what's going on today. Always in the Bible, the things that are now are just the antetypes of what was at the beginning.
Now, the book of Genesis produces everything that's in the world today. There's nothing in the world but what didn't begin in Genesis, for it is the beginning. In there started every ism. In Genesis started everything that started. And the true church started in Genesis. And the false believer started in Genesis. And the indifference started in Genesis. Genesis was the beginning.

8 And now during the reign of Elijah ... or, the pilgrimage of Elijah, here on earth, which was God's prophet for the hour. And God has never left Himself on the earth without a witness. God has always, somewhere, some place, had a person that He could put His hands on and would stand for a witness. So, if He's did that down since Genesis, the beginning, surely somewhere God has a man that He can lay His hand now. For He's more than one man now. He has many men that He can lay His hand on, because we're coming down to the gathering time, the harvest time.
Genesis was a planting of the seed, and these six thousand years has been the maturing of the harvest, and now the seed has become a seed itself. It's went back to the blossom and from the blossom to the fruit. And it's the gathering time now, harvest time, all the great things that started. The true church that started in Genesis, has come down to the fruit time: The fruit of the Spirit. And the antichrist that started in Genesis, is come down to its fruit. And we're just in the closing time of this world's entire dispensation of the mortal being.
And it's the greatest time that anyone, or at any age, ever lived, is this time. It's a shaking time. It's a troublesome time for sinners. But it's a marvelous time for Christians, because we know that we are packing up ... or, gathering the last little efforts together to go home and meet the Lord. Now, people today, as you look around and see the great trouble and distress facing the nations, where...

9 A few nights ago I was talking to someone, was one of these here lookout agents that watches, and they said, "Brother Branham, we were just instructed by the government never to advise people anymore to lay down away from the window on the floor if the bomb hits, or never to go into a basement, because this new bomb that they could radio guide from Moscow to Fourth Street in Louisville and hit right on the street; shoot it up, it's got things in it, explodes it, and takes it so many thousands, so many thousands; guide it by the stars and radar, and drop it exactly on Fourth Street in Louisville, from Moscow, Russia. And when it would hit there, don't have to use a plane nor nothing, just scoot it off here and it'll land right there. And it will blow a hole in the ground of the area ... the depth of a hundred and seventy-five feet for fifteen square miles either way it goes. Fifteen square miles."
There ain't nothing to do but get ready to take a flight upstairs, is the only thing to do when them times come. Just think, they can shoot fifty of them or a hundred of them at one time if they wanted to. It'd all be over within the space of, I believe it's sixty or eighty minutes ... or, seconds, rather, from there to here, to the entire annihilation of the whole thing would take place. There wouldn't be nothing left between Louisville and Henryville, and between Louisville and Bardstown, or down in there, but one hole in the ground with a bunch of dust laying in it, that's all'd be left. Besides the areas it would go out and burn for miles and miles and miles beyond that. And while one's dropping there, another one's dropping over somewhere else to meet with it.

10 I'm so glad that we have a shelter. "The name of the LORD is a mighty tower: the righteous run into it, and are safe." No matter how many bombs, or how many anything else, we're safe there. So, the world and the sinner not having this shelter ... or, this safety place, it's a shaking time. I believe if I wasn't a Christian, I'd go crazy; to thinking of what might happen at any time. And with a houseful of little kiddies and everything, I wouldn't know what to do.
But I'm so glad that I can stand in my house and introduce to them a shelter that no bomb could ever touch, or nothing else. Under the protecting wings of the Lord Jesus. "Not by power, not by might, but by my spirit, saith the LORD," see. That is our protection.
And what a great, glorious time it is to know that all sin and struggles and trials of life will soon be over. It'll all finish one of these days and we'll go home to be with the Lord. Now what's left is a time to preach the Gospel, and to bring into this great tower as much, as many as we can.

11 And then, as we see the pattern of our lesson today, of Elijah during his reign ... or, his pilgrimage on earth, why, he was a great, mighty man. God was using him in mighty ways, with mighty power. And we find out that during this time, there was a group of impersonators who tried to impersonate Elijah, who tried to do the same things Elijah done. And so we find the same thing today: impersonation of Christianity: people who try to act like Christians, who try to make themselves Christians. You can't do that. God has to do that. He's the only one who can do it.
So, they formed a school and called it the School of the Prophets. And they all went up to the School of the Prophets and they educated them. And I could imagine all those preachers up there wearing the same kind of coat that Elijah wore. I can imagine trying to impersonate him on his voice, the way he spoke and the way he presented himself. Everyone trying to do the same thing, because Elijah was a great man used of God.
And we find the same thing today. I was listening to the radio broadcast not long ago. They got Billy Grahams all over this country since Billy was in Louisville. Everybody trying to impersonate the same thing almost: comb their hair the same way, and wear the same thing, and same kind of voice and so forth. But you can't do that. You just got to be who you are and what God made you to be. That's right. And so, we find how that perhaps in them days the same thing took place.

12 Now, God seeing ... foreseeing that Elijah's days were numbered, that he had so long he could stay here on earth, as everyone has. So, he was going to have a successor to Elijah. And when He did, God called this man. He wasn't in no seminary when He called him. He was plowing in a field with a yoke of ox, doing the service, taking care of his mother and father. And God called him to be the successor of Elisha ... or, Elijah. Perhaps many up at the school thought they was surely going to be his successor. They was going to wear his robe as soon as he was finished with it. But God does the calling. God does the choosing. God does the electing. God does the setting in order.
God has set in the church some apostles, some prophets, some teachers, some evangelists, and pastors. God does that Himself. We cannot make one hair black or white, neither can we add one thing to our stature by taking thought. God in His infinite grace and by His election and His foreknowledge sets these things in order, and every wheel works just right. I like that. I would be a discouraged man this morning if I didn't believe in the election and calling of God.

13 If I thought that this world was left to the outcome of it, by the power of men and by the wisdom of men and by the Big Fours and the UN's and ... who never even mention God's name, I'd be a discouraged person. But I'm not looking to that for the outcome. I look down in the pages of this old book here, where God wrote it out, and everything will come just exactly the way He said it, and that's all.
So, the only thing for me to do is not line up with them, but line up with Calvary. Line up with God. Line up with His Word. Stay in His Word. No matter how much it looks like it's going to be that way, it's going to be the way God intends it to be. It can't be nothing else. For Him, being infinite, knows the end from the beginning and He makes everything come to His praises. That's right. All things will have to work together. Everything will have to shape right up to its place.
My, if that wouldn't make the courage in a Christian. Nothing can go wrong. After all, it's not our Bible, it's His. It's not our wisdom, it's His. And the only one thing we have to do is put our faith and trust there and sit still and see the glory of God. See how it moves around to its place and every wheel move and it may be scattered from side to side, but it'll move right into its right place when God speaks the Word. He knew the end from the beginning. He knew who He was going to choose. He knew Elisha would take Elijah's place before the world was ever formed. Everything has to work just exactly right.
And we're worried about our loved ones and so forth, will they ever come in? Their names, if they were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the world, they'll work right in there; that's the only thing it could do. We give witness and shine the light. God is the one that brings them to it.

14 Now, notice in Elijah. Then after he threw his robe on him and tried it on him... In other words, Elijah the prophet, who had the mantle of God on his shoulders, he came down and laid it across Elisha, the farmer, to see if it would fit him. And it taken about ten years to get altered to fit that mantle. You know, God usually puts us in the shop and trims us up. Now, He didn't alter His robe to fit Elisha; he altered Elisha to fit the robe. And that's what He does today. He alters us to fit the robe, not the robe to fit us. Sometimes we want to make the robe fit us. But we can't do that. You got to be altered yourself for the robe. It's God's robe and He made it perfect. And we've got... He's got to bring us into that realm to make the robe fit us.
So, we can't be perfect ourselves; we know we can't. There's no way for us to be, and yet He said for us to be. So what He did, He made appropriation for us; the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness. That's where the perfection comes of ignoring our own holiness, of which we have none, and our own thoughts which ought not to be, but we rest solemnly upon the finished work of the Lord Jesus. God sent Him to the earth and it was in Him that we rest.

15 Notice, all these years, as far as we know, he just had that one baptism: of the robe going over him. But through the years God had molded the man's character into a place to where, after he was called, that he would fit into the robe and be the servant of the Lord. And then when Elijah passed through and throwed it on him and they started up towards Gilgal and many of the other places, they went on to the School of Prophets, on their road, journeying on.
And finally Elijah was trying to get Elisha to turn back. Did you notice it? Trying to get him to turn back, said, "I..." Otherwise, "Maybe the road's a little too steep for you, son. Maybe it's a little too narrow for you to walk." You know where Elijah was, was straightness. And wherever God's true servant preaches the Gospel, it's a straight, unadulterated Gospel, where it's preached.

16 Well, one day he went up there to the School of the Prophets to visit them, and they asked him to leave. They said, "It's too straight around here for us." What we need today is some more straight Gospel preaching that'll separate the wheat from the chaff, or the right from the wrong. Make what's right right and what's wrong is wrong.
All these fellows with their experience, and all that they were, just sent out to get something to eat; and one of them got a wild vine, and gathered some wild gourds and cooked up some death in their ecclesiastical pot. And the first thing you know, they cried out, "There's death in the pot."
But Elisha, with a double portion, knowed what to do. So he put a handful of meal in the pot, said, "Now, go right ahead and eat it." In other words they'd...

17 Today, in a type, I would think that we've got a lot of Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Pentecostals, and everything else, all mixed together, and one fighting against the other. And we don't need to oust the whole thing and do away with it; we need another handful of meal. Keep the same church.
The meal was from the house of the school there, which was the meal offering that the people had brought in. And the first fruits of the harvest which was grounded a certain burr that made every grain of meal the same.
And then, when this meal being the same, was a type of Christ. Meal is life. And when the type of Christ, the meal, being ground up, the same meaning: Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever. And the meal and the meal offering. And when they put this meal into there, putting Christ into death brought life. That's what makes the difference. In our dead form, in our differences, in our ecclesiastical arguments and everything, if we would just bring Christ into it, it would change death and separation into life, if we would just do it.
There's nineteen million Baptists in America. There's thirteen million Methodists in America. There's eleven million Lutherans in America. And ten million Presbyterians in America. And God only knows how many Catholics, which outdo any of the denominations. But in all of it, what do we need? A handful of meal. We need to bring life to the church. And Christ is the life. He came to bring us life.

18 So, they had their disputes and their schools and their theologies and so forth. And then Elijah told Elisha, "You better turn back, because the way may be a little hard." But a man of God who's once faced it ... or, been throwed across His shoulder, the robe of God's righteousness and power, it's not too easy to turn back.
When I heard the pastor say this morning that many are becoming discouraged. What we need, brother, is take courage. What we need is to be encouraged. It's right. Trials may come, we never was promised to be immune from them, but He will give grace to go through them. If the mountain is too high to go over, too deep to go under, too wide to go around it, He'll give grace to go through it. That's right. Just don't worry, but keep your eyes on Christ, for He's the only one that can take us through.

19 Now, we see him as they journey on, come to the school. And he said, "You stay here now. Be here and settle down and be a good teacher of theology, and so forth. And you probably someday may become the dean of the college here. But I've got to go on down a little farther." Could you imagine a man of God being satisfied to be a dean of a college when the power of God laid right around where he was standing? No, sir. He said, "As the Lord liveth, and your soul liveth, I will not leave you." I like that. Stay with it no matter how much discouragement comes from your mother, your papa, or from your pastor; stay with him.

20 On to the Jordan they went. They crossed over, and Elijah said, "Now, what will you that I do for you?"
He said, "A double portion of your spirit to come upon me." He knowed he had a work to do. He said, "A double portion." Not just a good warm experience, not just a good handshake, or a good fellowship with the rest of the church; but what I want is a double portion of what's the best now.
I tell you, when God sets a man for a world task, he's got to have something better than the world's got. He's got to have something better than the church has got. He's got to go for a double portion. And if there ever was a time that a double portion is needed, it's today, in the realms of the people. Something better, something higher. I think beans and corn bread is very good, but sometimes I have to reach up a little higher. And we do that. We've got to. We got to keep climbing. Israel was backsliding if they kept staying on the same grounds. He's got to be moving on or moving back. And that's the way the church is.

21 So, as they went along, it wasn't but a few minutes until he said, "You've asked a great thing: but nevertheless, if you see me when I go, you can have what you ask for."
Now, that has to be singleness of motive, singleness of heart, singleness of eye, keeping your eye on the promise. If you're sick this morning, if you're afflicted, there's one great promise. Not by Elijah, but by God Himself. "If thou canst believe." When you pray, believe that you get what you ask for and you shall receive it. No matter what the doctor says, how much this goes or that goes, keep single on the promise.
Elijah give him a condition. "If you see me when I go, it'll come on you." There's a promise. "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to them that believe."

22 Sometimes I look at myself and think I've been such a jellyfish in my life. I have waited and missed many thousands of souls into the kingdom, because I've waited and said, "God," depending too much on a spiritual gift, and said, "Lord, if You'll just show me, if You'll give me a vision what to do." And God give the vision, then I'll turn around and let somebody talk me into something else.
And oh, I have never come to the spot yet, until I ... like I have at this time, that I feel it's a faith, that we must step out there because it's a promise. And the things that He has done, and the healings that He has performed, and the miracles, even so much as come down and have His picture taken by the side of us, and so forth, which has never been known since the world began. And then stand around like a jellyfish, it even makes me discouraged with myself. It's time to keep your eye on the promise. And that's what, by God's grace, I aim to do.
And I realize that every devil of hell will shoot at it. But by God's grace, I aim to keep my eye on the promise.

23 Elisha said, "If you..." Elijah said, "If you see me when I go, you'll have what you ask for." That's right. You got to keep your eye on it, watch the promise. Now, what if some of the school, if he turned back and say, "Hey boys, how am I doing now, following right along behind the prophet?" He'd have failed maybe. But he didn't care what the school thought, or what all the teachers thought. He didn't care what the neighbors thought, or the houses, or who looked at him. He kept his faith in the promise.
What we need today is faith in the promise of God. And don't pay no attention to what this one says, or that one says. As a brother said, "A minister had two girls that were mutes, and that their (criticism on divine healing) that the children could not be healed."
Don't pay no attention to the critics. Keep your faith on the promise. God said so. "The prayer of faith shall save the sick, and God shall raise them up." If He can make one deaf mute to hear, He can make another deaf mute to hear. We know by infallible proof that He does that. Keep our faith on the promise. Our eye single, our ear single, our heart single, and one thing on Jesus Christ; and He's able to perform that which He has promised. Oh, when we think of that, it changes the whole scene, when we get that. God made the promise. God was the one that said it. Now, here was God's representative said it. And now God Himself has said it. Then what can we do? Nothing but keep our mind on that.
Said, "If you see me when I go away, you can have the promise." Elisha kept his eyes on Elijah. No matter what hollered from each side, what taken place on each side, what taken place before, or back, he never even looked at it; he kept his eyes on the promise. There you are. Your eyes on the promise.
I think of the lady that we visited the other night, Sister Styler, and the doctor telling her how bad she was (And I never told her; told the loved one), and how impossible it be for her to ever get well. Now, brother... Her son-in-law asked me about it. I said, "If she can keep her eyes on the promise." No matter what takes place, keep your eyes on the promise.

24 A few weeks ago, Sister Woods here, and Brother Woods, two bosom friends of ours here at the church. I was in Michigan with my friends Leo and Gene. We left the Chicago meetings and went to some of their people for two days to go deer hunting with bows and arrows. And on my road back, my wife had got a hold of me, and she said, "Pray for Mrs. Wood's mother. A cancer that is eating off her face." And said, "I have never seen Sister Woods so alarmed, she's weeping."
Sister Woods has always been a hero of faith since God healed her boy of a crippled leg, and healed her with TB and so forth. But she'd given down. There at the room that night we prayed. Coming in, Mrs. Woods said, "Brother Branham, we'll go over." And we went to her mother, which was in Louisville. And she'd had a cancer on the side of her nose. And the doctor had tampered with it, scattered it to just a little ring the side of her nose and up just about an eighth of an inch from her eye. Just the bone laying there, just eating it just as fast as it could eat away.

25 Go into the room and I knelt down, I said, "I want to speak to her alone." And I go into the room to pray with the woman. And while in the room, I thought, "O God, if You'll just show me a vision of what's going to happen to the woman."
Mr. and Mrs. Woods sitting on the outside waiting to see what the vision would say. But while I was there I got condemned. I was condemned by waiting for a vision, seemed like something referred back, "Wasn't the calling. What do you need a vision when the promise is already been said." So, I knelt down and prayed. And while praying, something just answered on the inside, the faith of the promise.
Come back out and Mrs. Woods, when I told her about it, she said, "Did you see anything, Brother Branham?"
I said, "I never exactly seen anything, but I felt something that told me that His promise was true and He was going to do it. And I believe that He's going to do it."
And in less than twenty-four hours the end of that cancer begin to break away and a scab form over it. Cancers don't scab as you know, 'less it's dead. So, there it was now and the woman is healed and home. What a wonderful Christ! By keeping our eyes on the promise. God said so.

26 But when we are prayed for sometimes, we go off and say, "Well, it wasn't done just immediately, so maybe we'd better go back again." Oh, no. Keep your eye on the promise. God said so, that settles it. That's all of it. If God said so, God's able to keep His promise, or He'd never make it.
Abraham called those things which were not as though they were. And for twenty-five years stood on the impossible, because he counted God was able to perform what He had promised. Amen. And we are the children of Abraham by faith. Certainly Elijah kept his eyes on ... or, Elisha on Elijah.

27 And as they went on... And after awhile the chariot come and parted them, one to one side and the other. And there He picked up Elijah upon... He stepped on the chariot and went up and put his robe off his shoulders and threw it back to Elisha, because Elisha had growed into it, you know. So it would fit him right. And could you imagine... Oh, I want you to give me your undivided attention, as I feel my throat tickling. I want to ask you something. Could you imagine how Elisha felt when he picked up this robe, placed it upon his own shoulders? Oh, what a feeling!

28 I don't mean this to be personal, but about ten years ago, from the pulpit here, I preached on a sermon, "David, the warrior, with a sling in his hand and Goliath before him." In them days there were no healing campaigns on the field, nowhere, as we knew of. And, oh, how critical people were on divine healing. But there was something, after meeting with a being. And the pastor told me that I was losing my mind, that it couldn't be so. But from this same box here, I spoke on David, said, "Do you mean to tell me that this, the armies of the living God, will let that uncircumcised Philistine defy this army?"
A little old stoop-shouldered, curly-haired boy with a sheepskin coat on and a sling shot in his hand, with the whole army of Israel standing backed up and he alone walked out with a man with a spear some nineteen feet long and a thing on the end of it weighed several shekels, maybe twenty pounds of steel sharpened, a nineteen foot spear, with fingers fourteen inches long.
And David probably weighed ninety pounds, and stood bouncing up and down like a little banty rooster. And then you mean to tell me, oh my, that you'll let that uncircumcised Philistine, if he stays in his place, let him stay, but he's defying the armies of the living God. Oh my! What a hero.

29 "And all of you are afraid to go fight." Said, "Let me have him." Oh my! He said, "The God of heaven let me kill a lion with this slingshot. He let me kill a bear with this slingshot. And how much more will He deliver that uncircumcised Philistine into my hand." Certainly. And when the first victory was won, and Goliath was downed, the whole armies of Israel followed David. And they chopped heads, and beat Israel ... or, beat the Philistines, plumb into their own land. They backed them into the corners and slaughtered them and took their cities and everything. They had the victory.
Brother and sister, the same thing has been done in the realms of the supernatural, when they said, "Divine healing cannot work. The days of miracles is past." If the days of miracles is past, the days of God are past. The church that don't believe in supernatural will finally die and God will leave the church ... have to. And God gave a promise and God's promises is eternal.

30 Here some time ago when some girls was fooling with radium, and would dip it and paint the radium hands on the watches. I have some on this one. And a girl made a mistake and took the brush and stuck it in her mouth. It killed her. And years and years later they took a microscope and put it on the skull of that girl, and they could still hear that radium going on, "Burr, urr, urr." It's endless. It keeps working, on and on. There's no stopping to it.
And, oh, brother, if radium has that kind of an effect in it, how much more will the endless, eternal, supernatural, all powerful, all infinite, almighty God. He has to have the same effect. As He started, He has to have it all through, or He's not the Almighty, all-powerful God. He's still waiting for somebody with a burly faith that will step out and challenge the enemy on the basis of His Word and say that its so.

31 And now, what happened? As soon as the great healing campaigns started, then thousands of soldiers, of God's men, who laid back in little churches, like Oral Roberts, Tommy Hicks, and many of the other outstanding men on the field, pulled their swords and away they went. This Sword that cuts both coming and going, up and down, and in and out, a discerner of the thoughts, even to the marrow of the bone. They pulled their Bibles, their swords, walked out when they seen that it could be done and we beat the enemy by the grace of God, till the whole world's had a healing revival. Can be done.
Little pastors, who had little two by four churches and so forth, caught fire and seen the vision, jerked the sword and went forth and defied the enemy. How do you know it'll work? There's great men, Congressman Upshaw, King George of England, and many great men who laid sick and afflicted are healed by the power of Almighty God. So they can't say nothing about it now---time. Certainly.

32 Then when Elijah, after his whole heart's desire was to get that promise; he wanted the promise. That was his motive. That was his all. That was his life. That was his intent. Everything, all, everything hung on getting that promise.
I'm persuaded to believe that we're not sincere about this thing that we're talking about. If your whole motives this morning rests upon "giving God praise for my healing... I'm determined to be healed by the power of God. I'm determined to live a Christian life. I'm determined to walk in peace with God. I'm determined to do it. I don't care what mother says, what church says, what pastor says, what anybody else says, what the world says, I'm determined. That's the singleness of my heart." You're going to get somewhere then.
Then when Elijah saw that he was determined, said get ... Elijah saw that Elisha was determined, he gave him the promise. Now, the promise was, "If thou can see me when I go. If you can see me when I leave." Now, it's left up to Elisha. He wanted to hear the promise, so he's got the promise. Now, there's an "if" in it. "If you can see me when I go."
Now, if you're sick this morning and you want to be healed, I can prove to you Christ gave you the promise. The promise is yours. "If thou canst believe." If thou canst believe. Don't be defeated.

33 Now, Elisha wrapped in the robe of Elijah, the prophet. What a conqueror's march. How he walked treading ahead, as a conqueror. He had heard the promise. He felt the power. He was walking like a warrior, right down the Jordan.
Praise be to God, friends. Every believer this morning that's robed in the righteousness of Christ is walking: towards the Jordan road. That's right. Let atomic bombs come. Let it however way. You're robed and walking the conqueror. Amen. "Fear not, I have overcome the world." Yes, sir. Remember, what? "I have overcome the world." Christ said that.
Elisha was walking with a secondhanded robe on, feeling like a conqueror. Correctly. Coming to the Jordan. Brother, let me say this in respect to you. Don't you put on somebody else's robe that's all moth-eaten with doubts, where all these deceits and superstitions and ups and downs has put holes in it, and it leaking all through. You put on the robe of the conqueror, Christ. Don't trust in your church who once taught salvation by the baptism of the Holy Spirit, who once taught divine healing and now deny it, all eat up with the moths of doubt and everything else. Put on the robe of Him that never lost a battle, for you're on your road to Jordan. Amen.

34 Now, he had on a secondhanded robe, that's true. And many of the people this morning has secondhanded robes on. But when he come to the Jordan, he realized that the robe alone wouldn't do the work. That's right. And the church, the Methodists, the Baptists, the Pentecostals, the Presbyterian, oh, we have schools and, my, we have all the ethics of the Bible down pat. We've got all the woven robe all right, the promises. We've got it all. Oh, we're baptized, go down, and we're very apostolic. We have on the apostolic faith. We believe in divine healing. We believe in God. We believe in the powers of God. We baptize, in the Bible, the way the Bible says. We've received the Holy Ghost. We've spoke in tongues. We do all of that.
But, brother, if that's the only thing you need, you'll find your lack too when you come to Jordan. Oh, you may be taught, you may be smart, you may have a DD, Doctor of Divinity. You may have a PhD, Doctor of Philosophy. You may have LLD, Doctor of Latin. You may have all kinds of degrees. You may have the robe of the Methodist church on you. You may have robe of Pentecostal church on you. You may have the robe of the Assemblies on you, the Oneness, or the Trinitarians, or whatever it might be. It's only a secondhanded robe to begin with. That's right. Some man-made dogmas that's been thought up, so forth like that.

35 And even if you have been a Christian, and the church has been a Christian, and robed correctly... But when Elisha, standing out, conspicuous to a whole bank line full of prophets and critics, seeing what he would do... And here he come walking with Elijah's robe on. Oh my! He's schooled otherwise, he's educated, he's submitted, he believes. There's nothing wrong with him. He's coming down to the Jordan. The world's a watching him.
O God, how we need that today. With many schooled and educated scholars, with many men who can tear that Bible apart and set it together in mathematics. Many men who can do great things in the ways of teaching who knows Bible history to the very moment. Who could tell you the hour that hell was lit and the hour it went out. They can tell you all these things. And they got the water baptism. They've got the spiritual baptism, as they call it, the robe. They got everything just set in order. So did Elisha.

36 But when he come down to the Jordan to face the critical world, what did he cry? "Where is the God of Elijah?" It wasn't the robe of Elijah that done it. It was the power of the God of Elijah that done it.
And the thing the world needs this morning is the power of the God of Elijah. You might have spoke with tongues and shouted and run over the floor, but what we need is the power of the God of Pentecost to produce the lives and things, that was lived in that day in the apostolic hour. A secondhanded robe was all right, but he needed a fresh call in his heart from God. He needed a fresh anointing from God. He wore a secondhanded robe when he come to the river, but he needed a brand new, first-handed call from God and a first-handed power from God to perform the miracle.

37 And my brother, don't you be afraid to ask God anything. You must demand God ... or, ask God for anything that He has promised. For if I am introducing a God that's omnipotent and all powerful, and if I be a servant of God, I must do the works of God. And if I do the works of God, I must be man of God to bring these things to pass, because He's demanding of me to produce the impossible. I have to ask Him. I have to call upon Him and stand there and say, "God, You promised it." So do you. Every person.
"You shall receive power," Acts 1:8, "after the Holy Spirit is come upon you." After the Holy Spirit is come upon you, after you're robed as a Christian, after your faith is set in Christ, then you shall receive power. There you are. Yes.
And, brother, sister, every one of you this morning... May I say this before praying for the sick, may I say this, by God's help, you pray for me as I stood ten years ago at this platform preaching on David and Goliath.
Now, it isn't that Goliath is hindering me. God has slayed him before me. But the thing that is hindering me is the lack of faith, the lack of something that I knowed was around. And this morning before this little tabernacle again, I'm screaming, "Where is the God who gave this promise? Where is the God who met with us yonder? Come forward, God, and give me a courage. Give me a strength. Give me a determined mind, regardless of what comes or goes. Whether it looks dark, or whether it looks... Whatever it looks like, move on, the promise is true."

38 Brother, sister, one of these days... To you sinner friends here this morning, and to you people who are trying to impersonate Christianity, you may belong to church. That's very fine. I have nothing to say against that. Nothing against your fine, scholarly education, or against your theology. I have nothing against that. But, oh, where is the God?
It wasn't Elijah after all. It wasn't Elijah who opened up that river. It wasn't his robe. Elisha took it from his shoulder; he folded it just the same way that Elijah did. But when he begin to kind of wave it, there was no power there. Then he cried, knowing that God was somewhere, "Where is that God. Where is He?" Then something must have struck the prophet, for he waved that robe and struck the waters, and she opened hither to thither. And before the clergy of that day, before the critics of that day, he walked across the Jordan just like Elijah did before him.

39 We don't need the teaching, we have that. But we need the God of Elijah. We need the power of the God of Elijah back in our church; the power to make us hold there, and call God's Word right, regardless. And we're everyone here this morning, as human beings, on our road to Jordan. And when he came to Jordan... You're going to arrive there one of these mornings, or one of these nights. When he came to Jordan, he was walking as a conqueror. But when he came to Jordan, that was a difference. He had a secondhanded robe on; another man had wore it. But it was a good robe, and he knew what the man was that wore the robe.

40 And, brother, sister, one of these mornings I got to come down to Jordan. I was thinking this afternoon, we're going down to Brother and Sister Wright's. Don't forget them, this is their golden wedding anniversary. I'm to leave the church here, going to have a dinner with them.
I was thinking the other day, "Fifty years." And I see them both well aged and stricken down. I thought, "Yes, I'm forty-seven years old; they was just married three years before I was born." Forty-seven, I'm marching towards Jordan. I've got to come down. I've got to get there. I'm going to arrive there. It may be an accident on the road. I may drop from the air in a plane. I may be shot through with a devil's dart somewhere and die. I don't know how I'm going; but there's one thing I know, I'm going. But I'm walking towards Jordan. But when I get there, I want to know one thing, that I've got a secondhanded robe on too. I ain't trusting in mine, cause it's no good.
For as soon as Elisha picked up Elijah's robe, he tore his into pieces and threw it down. And that's the way it was when I found Christ. I tore my own self up, my own ideas, my own nonsense, my little petty things. And I thought when I was a little Baptist preacher I was just about as... I was somebody. But I tore it out. I put on His robe. And when I come to Jordan, I want to find myself wrapped in His robe. He will follow that. And we'll arrive there one day. So, let us pray just a moment.

41 Heavenly Father, as we're on our Jordan march this morning as conquerors, and some day we got to present something to the Jordan, that's to death. And, oh, what a horrible thing it'll be, a separation from God. We can't cross over. No. But Elisha when he got there, he had on Elisha's robe... Elijah's robe. And when he took off the robe, the... Elijah, the man who had been well pleasing in Your sight, and You had accepted him and brought him up into heaven with You. And Elisha was wearing his robe, so he presented to the Jordan, death, the robe of Elijah. And it was accepted, and the Jordan opened and he walked across.
Dear God, someday we got to come down. We can't present our good works, we have none. We can't present anything in the world. I don't even desire anything to try to present, but I trust wholly in the merits of Jesus. You accepted Him and raised Him from the dead. And He was brought into the presence of God, and there it will abide forever. God, I want to present that to You, that I believe on Him. And I love Him. And by grace He has clothed us with His robe.
And I pray, Father, that You'll help us now in the days of battle. And where the man of God must do the works of God, I pray that You'll let us take the robe of Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit, and call for the God who lived in Him. Grant it. In Christ's name we ask it.

42 And while we have our heads bowed, I just wondering here this morning if there's a person who's trying to walk down to Jordan without this robe on. If there's a person who has not the robe of Jesus Christ on you, and though it was wore one time by the Son of God, I wonder if you don't have that on this morning, if you'd raise your hands to God and say, "Dear God, this hour I now want to accept it." God bless you, lady. Would someone else would raise your... God bless you, son. Someone else will just raise up your hand? God bless you, little boy. God bless you, young man. Someone else to raise their hand? God bless you back there, sir.

43 Just say, "By God's help this morning, I want to forsake my self-righteousness, my own ideas and my thoughts of pleasures and big time and sin that I've lived in. And I want Christ to put His robe on me this morning. I will use His robe, for I know it's a perfect one." God bless you, son.
Someone else, saying, "I will just raise..." You raise your hand, say, "I now want to accept the Holy Spirit in my life. I want to be robed in His righteousness. When I get there that day, I won't present myself and say, 'Well now, you know, I bought somebody some coal. I did this.'" That's nice, that's very nice. For that, something had to die for you to live. And only through the act of that can you be saved. Will you raise your hand, say, "Christ, I now forsake my own ways, I accept Your ways. I want You to have mercy on me when I come to the end of the road." God bless you, lady. God bless you. All right. Now, we're going to have prayer.

44 Now, righteous Heavenly Father, some seven, eight, ten hands has went up. I do not know their status. Thou knowest all about them. I do not know. But they're in need today and they realize that they're in need, and they're willing to come and accept help in a time of trouble. To see the great hour that's at hand now: the atomic bombs, the great things that's waiting for us.
And I pray, Heavenly Father, that You will bless these people and today lay Your hand upon them and take away all their iniquity and doubt. And may they throw away their old moth-eaten robe of self-righteousness where the canker worms and the crickets and the moths of superstitions and churchanity has eat holes through it; and it won't hold any longer. May they just throw it away and reach over and get the robe of the Lord Jesus. Say, "I trust in Him. I wrap myself, not in my righteousness or on my own thoughts, but from this hour on I'm trusting You." Grant that they'll receive it, Father. For we ask it Christ's name. Amen.

A Secondhand Robe

You can find this sermon at ChurchAges.net

1 Just remain standing a moment. Our heavenly Father, we thank Thee for the privilege that we have of being assembled together one more night this side of the coming of the Lord. And may we live and act tonight, and do and accept just as we would if this was the last night. Grant it, Lord.
If there be any here who doesn't know Thee in the pardoning of their sins, the blessed Holy Spirit has not filled their life until this time, may this be the night that they receive Him. Grant it, Lord.
And may also every sick and afflicted person be healed of their diseases tonight and show Your great hand to heal the sick and to save the lost. Grant it, Lord, for we ask it in Jesus' name, Thy beloved Son. Amen.

2 May be seated. So happy for the privilege of being back in the church again tonight. I believe one said once, "I was happy when they said unto me, 'Let us go unto the house of the Lord.'" And this is a privilege that's rare to us all, to assemble together to serve the Lord Jesus.
And now, I believe, the engineer on this may... I hope I'm not too loud. Can you hear me all right? Can't hear me over there? Would you step it up just a little bit, ever who's on the engineering end of these microphones, if you will.
I don't talk too loud, and so I guess it's kind of hard sometimes to hear. Now, is that better? Can you hear that all right now? That's fine. Up in the balcony all right? Well, that's good. All right.

3 Now, our friend, Brother Mattsson-Boze was speaking this afternoon, and on the road over tonight they told me he had a wonderful message. So, you people that were here were privileged to hear the message, and so we pray that you'll trust that if possible you'll be out tomorrow afternoon to hear his message again. I think his services begins around two or three o'clock, something like that. They probably already announced it.
Joseph, as I call him, I've known him for a long time, and I know him to live like he preaches. So that's the main thing. You know, I'd rather you live me a sermon than preach me one. It's a lot better to be lived than it is to be preached. It takes a real servant of God to live one, but most anyone that preaches, besides myself, maybe preach one once in awhile.

4 So, we are trusting to the Lord tonight to bless each one. And I have just heard that Brother Jack Coe isn't too well yet. And I certainly do pray that God will heal Brother Jack Coe. I can think of Brother Jack as many of you know him (as he looks today), but when I first seen him, he was a little skinny boy. And he...
I was at San Antonio, Texas. And he was the most curious little fellow I ever seen when he couldn't understand the callings of things of God. So, one night on the road out, he said, "Say, I want to ask you something." They'd just taken me from the platform. And 'course, then is just when the anointing is leaving; it ain't bad while it's there or when you're out of it. But it's in between the times is what does it. Anyone who knows the Scripture know what that means.

5 And Mr. Kidson, a few of the brethren were taking me from the place, and Brother Jack said, "Say, tell me what's wrong with this woman here, and I'll believe you," see.
I said, "Sir, the Lord doesn't work like that." I said, "He doesn't..." It was one time they said, "Come off the cross, and I'll believe You." It was one time said, "Turn these stones into bread and I'll believe You." One time they put a rag over His face and hit Him on the head, said, "Tell us who done it and we'll believe You." I said, "God doesn't do it that way."
He said, "Sir, I'm just curious."
I said, "That's right. Now, the woman that you have has a tumor in her side." And I said, "And the only thing's the matter with you is just a little curious preacher. You don't understand this, but someday you'll be out on the field preaching the Gospel and praying for the sick." And that's the beginning of Jack Coe. He left from right there.

6 And tonight, he lays very ill with polio in his lungs, I think, and is very, very bad. And now, Brother Jack, as I know in the foreign fields where we deal with leprosy and everything, and Brother Jack has had to face lots of sickness and things. And no one can really, truly, outside of God, appreciate a man that goes before every kind of a thing like that.
So, I think before we start the service, will you just bow our heads for a word of prayer for Brother Jack?
Our heavenly Father, it's with bowed hearts that we come before Thee tonight, this lovely church here in Brooklyn, to offer our sincere thanks to Thee for Brother Jack Coe and for his ministry, and for the things that he has done for Thee and in Thy name.

7 And now, Father, he stands just at the point of death. Oh, great, Holy Spirit, will You deliver our brother? We pray the prayer of faith to the best of our knowledge. And we pray that You will manifest Your great healing power. And, Father, if it be possible, I pray that You'll give a vision of what to go tell Brother Jack; I'd leave immediately.
And I pray Thee to be merciful to him and to spare his life, thinking of his good works and of the things that he has did for Thy kingdom: the orphanage of the poor little children that without papas and mamas. And oh, God, if the enemy takes him, what'll happen to that school?
God, we think of his own family, the work of the Lord. Be merciful to Brother Jack, and I pray that right now that the Holy Spirit will take over, drive away the polio, may his lungs begin to breathe back and forth normally. Grant it, Lord. We humbly offer You this prayer, Lord, with all the faith that we have, believing that You'll answer us. For we ask it in Jesus' name, who said, "Ask the Father anything in My name, I will do it." And I pray that it'll be answered in that way for the glory of God, in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.

8 By keeping you a little late last evening, I will try to maybe a little shorter this evening. And I want to read just a verse of Scripture from the Old Testament in 2nd Kings, the 2nd chapter and the 20 ... or, I mean, the 13th verse.
And he took up also the mantle of Elijah that had fallen to the ground and he went ... and stood by the ... Jordan.
And now, for a text tonight, I would like to use this as a text, A Secondhanded Robe. And then for a subject: Standing by the Jordan. And may the Lord add His blessings to the reading of His Word, and in doing so, brings faith to the audience.

9 I suppose we're about the same audience that was here last evening. So, we understand how to approach God, as I explained it last night on how to come to Him and about the operation and that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, and He's alive tonight, and He's just the same yesterday, today, and forever.
On the subject tonight as a way of knowing that you people here have a very good pastor, a good preacher, and I know you're used to preaching. And I feel very small to stand behind the pulpit here where Brother Hutchinson has ministered, because, as myself, I'm not a speaker. I'm not too well, I have a very poor education. And I just trust in the Lord for what little I can do for Him, and but what I know of the Word, I sure like to tell someone else about it and we fellowship around the blessed Word.

10 Now, in the day, the event that we're speaking of tonight ... or, right immediately after the death of Ahab, and Ahaziah his son had taken his place and had done wickedly; and he had fallen through the lattice of his place in Samaria and had been cursed and was laying, dying.
And so, him being an idolater, sent the men from Samaria to inquire of Baalzebub and the demon powers of what would be his outcome, or if he would be able, through this great god that they call Baalim, if they would be able to recover from his condition.
And on his road over there to the messengers that he sent, God, who knows all things, called to His servant Elijah, and said, "Go meet them and ask them, 'Why is he doing this; because there was no God in Israel?'"
And when he turned the servants back, and on their way back ... or, when they come back, they asked him, "Why didn't you go to take the message?"
And he said, "We met a man that told us, 'Thus saith the Lord.'"
And then, the king inquired, "What kind of a man was he?"
He said, "He was a hairy man, and he had leather on his loins." And he knew it was Elijah, the Tishbite.

11 God has never been at any time without a true witness on the earth. He always has had a true witness somewhere; and since the world began, He's had it. And somewhere today there is a true witness of God. In the midst of all of our nine hundred and sixty-nine different denominations here, there's somewhere God has a true witness.
Now, in the old days He had prophets. The message came by God in sundry times and divers manners spake to the fathers by the prophets, and in this last day has spoke to us by His Son, Christ Jesus. And now, the Word came through the prophets. Today, we have gifts of prophecy, and we have prophets, also.

12 And there's quite a vast difference between a gift of prophecy and a prophet. A gift of prophecy is a church gift that operates, that might be on one one night, and another another night, and another another night. And before it can be received into the church, it has to be judged by three different judges. And then, three witnesses has to accept it as being the Word of the Lord, then it's kept on record; and if it comes not to pass, then there's an evil spirit among the people. And there's why I think that we have misused God's divine gifts.
In our tabernacle at home when I first ... in our Baptist church, when I first received the baptism of the Spirit and was called into the ministry, we tried to seek out God for the spiritual gifts. We had all the people to come who were gifted people, maybe an hour before the service ever started.

13 And the gifts of the Spirit as one would speak in unknown tongues and the other give the interpretation... And it could not be just a quoting of Scripture, 'cause God doesn't use vain repetition. It must be some direct message to the church. And then, if it was to the church, before it could be received in the church, there had to be at least three spiritual gifts there. And that was to call ... we call them like judges to judge. Three people with the gift of discernment, in the Bible it's called.
And one of them would raise up and say, "It's of the Lord."
And the other one raise up and say, "It's of the Lord." Well, the two out-ruled the one. So, then the message was taken down and then placed on my desk. And it couldn't be now like, "Jesus is coming soon." We know that, and other things that the Scriptures declare.

14 It would be something like this: "Tell ... 'Thus saith the Lord,' tell Brother Jones to get away from that place where he lives, for it's near a railroad track, for tomorrow at two o'clock, there's going to be a wreck there, and his house will be destroyed." Or, "Tell Brother Branham that tonight there'll be someone come in from a certain place, that's got a certain disease, be dressed a certain way. And he shall go to them; they'll be brought in tonight by ambulance. And tell them that this thing that's against them. It's 'Thus saith the Lord.'"
Well then, if them messages was taken down that the witnesses witnessed that it was the Holy Spirit, it was laid on the pulpit, and then when the church begin to gather, all the gifts they'd done had their part of the meeting. There was nothing taking place then but the singing of the Word ... or, the singing of the hymns.

15 And then, when I came out to speak, which was in the room, they pressed a button, a red light come on. I'd been in there maybe all afternoon, praying; walked forth with the message of the Lord on my heart. Before I made the message on the platform ... on the pulpit, laid these messages. I read them off, then went on with the message. And then, after the message, the altar call.
And if the things that were written on there did come to pass, we thanked the Lord and praised Him for it. If it didn't come to pass, they had a cleaning-up time. There's an evil spirit among them, because God don't tell lies, see.
And that's the way the gifts should be operated. And then, all this stuff that goes on in the name of the gifts would be culled out. And then, no one wants a evil spirit on them to lie and do those things. They want the real; there's a real Spirit. You don't have to have that kind of a spirit. God's got a real Spirit for you. And so, you don't want them things that the devil would give you.

16 And if that was wrong, then all those people repented and prayed, and fasted, and went before the Lord till that spirit got off of them, all of them. The witnesses and all, the one who discerned it and so forth, they were all wrong. And then, we had the thing cleaned up. And that's the way that the gifts should be operated in the church, to my opinion. That's the way it worked wonderful in our tabernacle at home.
And then, if that'll work in a Baptist church, it surely ought to work in a Pentecostal church. It certainly ought to. So then, it's just the sincerity. You must respect those gifts and give them their places and everything where they should be.
And the Bible is a blueprint, just how they should be put together and how they should operate. Then, you'll have no trouble at all nowhere. Everything will move just exactly in the will of the Lord. If He wants anything said, He'll speak and give the interpretation of it, and set it out, and it'll happen just exactly to the minute just the way God said it would.

17 And oh, the marvelous things that we have seen our Lord do in those things. But it takes a consecrated life, a surrendered life, and so forth, and a church that's purged daily by the blood of the Lord Jesus and them things will take place.
And there's a vast difference between a gift of prophecy and a prophet. A gift of prophecy will act on one and then another and it's to be judged. But a prophet has the Word of the Lord. And a prophet is born a prophet, see.
Jesus Christ was the Son of God; He was a woman's seed from the garden of Eden, that was promised. You believe that? Moses was born a prophet. They recognized it when he was born: a prophet child, the emancipator of Israel.
And John the Baptist seven hundred and twelve years before he came to the earth, he was the voice of one crying in the wilderness through the prophet Isaiah.
Jeremiah: God told Jeremiah, "Before you was even formed in your mother's womb or came forth, I knew you, and sanctified you, and ordained you a prophet to the nation," see. Gifts and callings are without repentance. God has, see. Oh, what a wonderful book. Well, that's the pastor's place to take care of that. I'm here to preach divine healing to you. All right.

18 But anyhow, in the days... As long as Israel walked before God, and listened to the prophets, and had the right thing, then God heard them and blessed them. And He'll do the same thing in the church today, if the people will touch Him, and listen, and keep things straight, and everything moving directly in Christ. God will do the same thing for the church.
Now, God had His man and it was Elijah, the Tishbite. And usually, God has one major in them days---a major prophet. Then sometimes He had others---minor prophets.
In the days of Elijah, he knew that he was making ready for his translation. God was going to take him up. So he had went and called Elisha to take his place. And had threw his robe around him and called him to the ministry under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

19 And now, in them days, they'd had a school called the school of the prophets, that had a (and we'd call it today) a seminary. They'd seen the great work that God was doing through Elijah, so they thought they'd get them a school, and hatch them out a few, and get a few prophets across the land like Elijah.
Well, that's a great thing. But it never worked successful then, neither will it work today. That's right. It takes God does the calling. That's the only flaw there is to it. God has to do the calling. And if God don't do the calling, then it does the prophet no good to go. But if God does the calling, He will honor His Word wherever he goes. God will be with him.

20 Now, we find that this school of the prophets, how it turned out to be. I'd imagine every prophet there... When Elijah came up, we seen they didn't live the right kind of life, for they said, "It's too straight for around here when Elijah comes around." I imagine if it'd be today, they'd make them get rid of all their television programs, and all their old love story magazines, and quit their smoking and drinking, and all these things, and clean up.
If there's anything would be needed today, it would be that. That's right. Any people that stay home on Wednesday night from a prayer meeting to see, "We love Lucy," or, "Who love Lucy," or whatever it is, that person needs an old-fashioned case of repentance at the altar. That's exactly right. And anyone that would belittle themself with such things that come out of Hollywood, and pattern yourself with such immoral people that's married five or six times, and running around, and carrying on the way they do with their ungodly dressings, and things that they have in that place, and make that your example?

21 Why, you ought to look at Jesus Christ. You've died to those things and are alive in Christ. Make Him your example.
And it's terrible to see the way this great nation of ours is sinking and falling, and all the programs, nearly, on the radio and everything is some kind of a gag, or dirty joke, or some kind of a smutty odd thing being told. And all this old music they have, boogie-woogie, ever what you call it, and rock-and-roll, and them evil persons like Presley, and Arthur Godfrey, and those them who pull things smutty jokes.
And you people gum that stuff down you every day on the radio, and then come to the church and expect a blessing. How can you throw stagnated water in a place and expect good things to come out of it? There's a hog in the wallow somewhere. We need a cleaning-out time. The church needs to be purged by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that sets your affections on things above and the coming of the Lord.

22 Now, them people live their lives. God have mercy on them. I'm not making light of them or anything, but I'm only trying to press a mark to the church. No wonder we can't have revival like we ought to. No wonder Billy Graham was crying the other night about not being able to see revival at this time.
Brother, they need a cleaning up from the pulpit plumb into the janitor's room in the churches through the land is what we need, before the Holy Spirit can take place. God's a holy God. That's right. And now, I don't believe that you'd go to heaven on your holiness, but you go to heaven on His holiness. But it's the works that you do prove what's in you. That's right. You love Him and God wants you to love Him.
And if you love Him, you'll worship Him and you'll love Him. What's in your heart, that's where you love, what you love. Where your treasures is, there your heart is also. It's a wonderful thing.

23 Like I said to my wife, "What's that... It's a case of love." Now, when I go overseas, I don't say, "Now, wait a minute, Mrs. Branham. I'm going to lay some law down to you now. I'm going overseas, and thou shalt not have any other husbands. And don't you go to flirting with any other man," and all these things.
Now, when she said, "Now, just a minute, young man, and I want to give you some orders. And you're not taking any women out while you're gone and..." Why, wouldn't that be a life to live? I'd hate to trust her like that. That's right. And I guess she'd hate to trust me.
But we love one another. When I get ready to leave, we kneel down in the floor and offer thanks to God for the privilege that we have of going in the Gospel and to do in the work of the Lord. And I ask God to bless my little children and my wife and take care of them; we raise up, and I kiss her goodbye. Say, "Goodbye, sweetheart, see you when I come back. Be praying for me."
She said, "I will, Billy." That settles it.

24 Well, if I ever... I don't care who it was. If, why, if I even thought that I could go out with someone else and get by with it, (I know she'd forgive me for it) I wouldn't do it. I love her too much. I think too much of her to hurt her. She'd forgive me, but it would hurt her.
Well, that's just human love. How much more it is when you love the Lord Jesus? You don't have... You won't stay home and listen to these things. You love Him. You wouldn't hurt Him. Why, everything you want to do is to do something for Him, because you love Him. Though you say, "He'd forgive me for it." That's right. He might forgive you, but if you really love Him, you don't want to do it.

25 And we've got too many school of prophets letting those things get by. That's the truth. And I want you to notice these fellows. When they were up there, why, Elisha went up to see them one day. And one fellow went out to get some ... pick some peas. And he picked a lap full of gourds and he cooked them up.
Now, a guy that don't know the difference between wild gourds and peas ain't very much prophet, don't look like. But he threw them into the pot and begin to cook them. They were cooking up something all right. And when they begin to eat, one of them recognized he was getting sick, and he said, "There's death in the pot."
Now, what did Elisha do? They went to him, the one with the double portion. So they went to him and wanted to know what to do. And he never said, "Get rid of all of it now." He said, "Don't do that." But he went and got a handful of meal, and threw into the same pot, and said, "Now, eat all you want to. There's life in it."

26 Now, what made the difference was the meal. And the meal at the school was the meal offering that was offered to the Lord, which was grounded a certain burr. And every grain of meal had to be ground the same. And that meal represented Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. And when He's throwed into death, it always brings forth life.
What we need is Christ in the pot where we got the poison cooking. That's right, all... We don't need to get rid of the Methodists, Baptists, and Pentecostals; we just need a handful ... or, a heart full of Christ in among them, and all these other old programs and things will clear up. And from death will turn to life when Christ is put in.

27 The seminaries, the schools, the denominations, they're all right; but they need Christ in them. The members are fine people; they're human beings like you and I are, that love to eat and love their families and love like that. But what they need is Christ in their life. They don't need a yardstick to measure by. Christ comes in; He takes the place of that yardstick.
I'm raised in a country where they got a lot of hardwood. And in the wintertime---the little old scrub oak always holds its leaf all winter, the oak tree does. Now, when springtime comes, you don't have to go out and pick up all ... pick all the oak leaves off the old ones so the new one can come on. The only thing you have to do is just wait and let the new life come up; the old leaf drops off. That's all we need, is Christ the new life, and all the things of the world become dead to you. Just need Christ in the church. That's what we need today: more of the risen Lord Jesus.

28 Now, notice, now the school, I can imagine each one of them up there, they each one pack their Bible just about like Elijah done, you know. And each one used his voice just the way Elijah does. It's a great day again of impersonation. Don't you believe that?
Billy Graham was just in Louisville, and I'm telling you, every program comes on, everybody say, "The Lord bless you real good." It's just in human, I guess. And try to speak like Billy Graham, pack their Bible like Billy Graham; or some evangelist come to town. That's the way they do. It's impersonation, carnal impersonation.

29 And now here it is. It may hurt just a little bit, but my mother used to give me... We was raised so poor, we'd have to eat cornbread that was made out of grease ... out of meat skins where they cook it in a pan, you know, and boil out the grease to make...
And every Saturday night, I know we used to have to take a dose of caster oil. And I can't even stand it today. And mama used to say... I'd hold my nose. I'd say, "Mama, it makes me so sick. I can't even bear it."
She said, "If it don't make you sick, it don't do you any good."
So, maybe that is with preaching the Gospel. If it doesn't stir you up a little bit... And I'm afraid today that many of us that are claiming great things in God, are only carnal impersonations. In someone else: the way they act, and the way they do, and try to put the same thing on ourself and act that way.
When Christianity is not a mimic; it's a life. Christianity comes by a birth that when you're borned again of the Spirit of God and become a new creature in Christ Jesus. Old things have passed away and all things become new.
Watch.

30 And we find every one said, "Now, when Elijah goes, I tell you (You know, I'm the dean of the school) the mantle will come on me. I'll get it when Elijah goes.
And the other one said, "But you remember, I'm the professor here too. And I'm the dean of psychology. I'll get it, because I really know how to handle the people." Everyone... But you know what God did? God had chose a little old plowboy down there. Just shows the difference.
Maybe he didn't know his ABC's. Maybe he couldn't count to a hundred, but God had chose him. Sometimes man's choice is a lot different than God's choice.

31 One time they was choosing a king. And when the prophet went up... Even the prophet had the horn of oil to anoint one of David's sons. And they brought out the great big six-footer, you know. Said, "The robe and crown would look good on him." But God refused him. And God chose a little old scrawny guy back there. The Bible said, "A little ruddy fellow with a sheepskin coat on, with a slingshot in his hand, herding his daddy's sheep."
But God don't look at the outside; God looks at the inside. And we're trying to put too much exaggerations and so much expression on the outward appearance, when God looks on the heart. Amen. Oh, my, how we need it today, everywhere and every place. The whole world is corrupted everywhere. How does God ever stand it?

32 But notice, here they come out. And Elijah, when he come by, his time just about fulfilled for him to go, he spoke to Elisha. Come by where he was at, and he said, "Now, you stay here. I'm going up to Gilgal up here." You see, he tried to discourage him.
And many times when there's a blessing laying right ahead, the devil tries everything he can to discourage us. We go through trials and testings. But Elisha, being spiritual minded also, he knew that he had a purpose, and he wasn't going to leave him. He said, "As the Lord liveth and your soul liveth, I'm not going to leave you." I like that, that determination.
Oh, my, we take a little thing from God and get all discouraged in a hour, but not Elisha. He looked forward to the time. He knowed that it was close at hand. So he went to another place, he said, "Tarry here, I pray thee, for the Lord's calling me somewhere else. You just stay back here." But there was no staying back with Elisha. He had the revelation of what God was going to do.

33 So, if somebody says, "Just stay home tonight and look at the television. It's too bad to go out." Don't you worry. If you know the Lord Jesus is coming, oh, you're going to church regardless of what the weather looks like or anything else. You're going to stay right there, for we're expecting something to happen at any time.
When we see Moscow with guided missiles, who could take this whole nation in one hour and never leave Moscow... Just send up this rocket like that with explosions in it, it'd blow it so many thousand miles and guide it through the stars and radar, drop it right on Manhattan here, three or four of them at a time. There'd be a ... for fifteen miles each way would be hole in the ground a hundred and seventy feet deep. What would you do?
Or maybe let loose a hundred or two of them on the major cities at one time, in one hour's time there'd be no more United States and no more world, set up a chain reaction to cause a total annihilation. What could it do? Where are you going to run to? Used to say, "Get a bomb shelter." They say now, "That's nonsense."

34 But we got a bomb shelter. Amen. You know what it's made out of? Feathers: under His wings (Amen.) to be carried away, a bomb shelter of safety. Amen.
Oh, my, how this prophet, he wasn't discouraged. He said, "No, as the Lord liveth and your soul liveth, I'm going to stay right with you." So, they go on to the school of the prophets. Elijah said, "You stay here for I'm going to Jordan." He said, "As the Lord liveth, I'm not going to leave you."
On down to the Jordan they went to cross Jordan. Then Elisha turned around and said to ... or, Elijah said to Elisha, "What do you desire? What you hanging around for?" Oh, my, I like that. "What're you hanging around for? What do you desire?"

35 Now, the Bible said, "Ask abundance." Certainly. You know, we're afraid we're going to ask God too much. But you can't over-ask God anything. Could you imagine a little fish about that long out in the middle of the ocean saying, "Well, I better drink of this water sparingly, 'cause it might run out someday." Nonsense.
Could you imagine a little mouse about that long, down under the great garners of Egypt, saying, "I better just eat a few grains each day, and be very conservative now, because I tell you; I might run out before the winter's over, before the new crop comes in." Oh, my.
Now, add ten billion times to that, and you can find how silly it would be to try to think you could exhaust God's abundance of blessings for you. Why, my, He said, "Ask abundantly that your joys might be full." And Elisha was going to ask abundantly. He said, "I want a double portion of Your Spirit upon me." Oh, what a question, what a desire.

36 Now, remember, Elisha and Elijah was a type of Christ and the church. As Elijah was taken up and threw back his robe for Elisha to wear, so was Christ taken up and sent back His robe.
Was asked one day by a mother of two of His disciples, she said, "Let my sons set one on the right and the left."
He said, "Can you drink the cup that I drink?"
Said, "Yes."
Said, "Can you be baptized with the baptism that I'm baptized with?"
She said, "Yes."
He said, "You can. You will. But the right and left hand is not Mine to give."
So as He was baptized with the Holy Ghost and said, "The things that I do, more than this shall you do," a double portion of the Spirit of Christ come upon the church at Pentecost, 'cause it goes to all the world, a double portion as it was Elijah.

37 Now, Elisha wanted to find one thing; in his mind, in his heart, there was a deep desire. And when the deep goes to coming to the deep, there's bound to be a deep to respond to that call. Before there's a fin on a fish's back, there had to be a water for him to swim in first. Before there's a tree to grow in the earth, there had to be a earth first for the tree to grow in.
Before there's a desire in your heart for more of God, there's got to be more of God somewhere to respond to that desire.

38 I seen here sometime ago, where a little kid eat the erasers off of pencils, eat the pedal off of a bicycle. And they taken him down to the laboratory to examine him. And find out, at the clinic, rather, they found out that his little body needed sulfur. Well, if there's something in here calling for sulfur, there had to be a sulfur to respond to that call.
Here it is, like this. Before there can be a creation, there has to be a Creator to create that creation. And if you're desiring tonight to be healed of the Lord, there's got to be a fountain open somewhere. That's right. If you desire the baptism of the Holy Ghost in your heart, there's got to be something out there creating that desire. When the deep calleth to the deep, there's got to be a deep to respond to it.

39 And Elisha, oh, he wanted that Spirit. And though, he didn't have any promise of it yet, but he knew that Elijah was wearing a robe. And he knew he had that robe on him. And I can see him stand up on the hill where all of the school, the DD's and PhD's was standing back, seeing what was going to take place.
But Elisha had had that robe on him many years before. Now, Elijah had to grow ... Elisha had to grow to fit the robe. Today, we're trying to cut the robe to fit us, and God has to cut us to fit the robe. That's the difference. We just got vice-versa.
You've got to alter yourself to meet God's Holy Spirit. God won't alter the Spirit to meet your desire, see. But you've got to alter yourself. So, Elisha had several years of growing into fit the robe. So he thought it would fit him pretty well. He was on his road up the hill.

40 And Elijah turned around. The only thing that he wanted to know was, he could ever get that promise. That's all he wanted. And he said, "Now, I'm going to ask you ... tell you what my desire is. I want a double portion of your Spirit to come upon me. What are you going to say?"
Elijah, the anointed prophet, turned around and said, "Thou hast asked a hard thing, but this will be given to you on condition." So is the Holy Ghost given to you on condition, see. "On conditions, if you can meet the condition; that is, if you can see me when I go away, you'll have what you ask for." That's all Elisha wanted, was the promise.
If he knowed the promise and the conditions of the promise, then he kept his eye right on Elijah. I can imagine somebody else saying, "Say, what are you following him for?"
"I ain't got no time to talk to you. I'm looking straight at him."

41 And today, the promise... Many of you here are sick. And the promise is to you. "If thou canst believe." You've got the promise. The promise is laid down here in the Bible. The promise is yours, but the trouble of it; you let the schools of the prophets and everything else call you from one side to the other one, telling you, discouraging, and telling you, "Days of miracles is past. No such a thing; it's mind reading. It's mental telepathy," and all those things. And you listen to it, and that's the reason you don't receive the promise.
I can imagine Elisha following Elijah with them eyes straight on him. He wasn't going to turn to see, or didn't turn back, say, "Hey, fellows, how do you think I'm doing?" If he would, Elijah might've been taken away and he wouldn't have got the promise.

42 And when we turn aside to go to looking at this, and looking at conditions, and looking at symptoms... Oh, we say, "Now look, I was prayed for last night. You see, my hand's no better." And it never will be, like that. No, sir. You don't look at the symptoms; you look at the promise. Amen. The promise is what it is. Look who made the promise. It was God who made the promise. It's God's Word who's in authority. It's God who spoke the promise. That's who it is.
And you look at your symptoms. Symptoms are one of the greatest hindrance God has to work with, is symptoms. And if there ever anything that is wrong is a man or woman who'll look and say, "I don't feel any better. Now, they prayed for me over at my church last night, and they believe in divine healing; but, really, I don't feel any better."
You don't never go by your feelings. Jesus never did say, "Did you feel it?" He said, "Did you believe it?" See where you get the thing all turned around? It's your faith in His promise that does it. Like Elisha, he wanted the promise. And if Elijah said he could have it if he kept his eye on him, he kept his eye on him. That's all. Amen.

43 There was a fellow in the Bible had some symptoms one time. His name was Jonah. Talk about symptoms, he had them. Now, he was backslid. That's a big word for a Baptist to say, but I believe you can do it. So, he was backslid. God told him to go down to Nineveh, and he went to Tarshish, the easier road.
So out there a storm came up, a stormy sea. And he had his hands tied, his feet tied, throwed out. A big fish come along and swallowed him, went down in the bottom of the sea. Feed your goldfish and watch them when they prowl through the waters till they find their prey. And then when they feed they go right down and rest their swimmers on the bottom of the ocean.

44 This big whale that swallowed Jonah went down to the bottom of the sea and was laying there resting. Now, you talk about symptoms, that man had it. The first place, he was backslid. The next place, his hands and feet was tied behind him, and he was on a stormy sea, in the belly of a whale, in the bottom of the sea. And if he looked this way, it was a whale's belly; he looked that way it was whale's belly. Everywhere he looked was whale's belly. You talk about symptoms, he had it. There's nobody here in that condition tonight.
But what did he say? He said, "They are lying vanities. I won't even look at them." But he turned over in vomit and seaweeds around his neck in the belly of this whale, and he said, "Lord, once more will I look to Your holy temple." Not at the symptoms; at the temple. Why?

45 When Solomon dedicated the temple, he prayed, and said, "Lord, if Thy people be in trouble at anytime, and look towards this holy place and pray, then hear from heaven." And Jonah denied all those symptoms and called them lying vanities, because he had faith in the prayer of Solomon, who dedicated the temple.
And if Jonah could do that upon them circumstances, what ought we to do who don't look to Solomon's temple, but to heaven itself where Jesus sits at the right hand of God with His own blood to make intercessions upon our confession. Symptoms? Certainly not; we deny them. There's no such a thing. We take God at His Word, and keep our eye on the promise, and move on.
When you receive the Holy Spirit, the devil will try to say, "You ain't got nothing." Well, that's just all he knows about it, see. Then if you give in to him, you lose it. But keep your eye on the promise.

46 I can see Elisha as he goes up the hill, and Elijah in front of him, going on, he's keeping his eye on him. Somebody hollers from one side, some of the school of the prophets will holler across the Jordan. He just kept his eye right on him, going right on.
Some of them say, "Wait a minute; wait a minute here. You know, I'm Professor So-and-So..."
"I don't care who you are; I got the promise. I'm going right on."
Say, "You know what, the pastor..."
"I don't care who you are. I got my eye on the promise."
That's the way to get it. Keep your eye on the promise. Stay with it; hold onto it. That's right. Don't be jellyfish, wishy-washy, in-and-out, up-and-down, like a worm in a lemon. But stay with your eye on the promise. God said so; that settles it. God said so; that takes care of it as far as I'm concerned. God said so; He has to stay with His Word, and His Word's eternal as God is. So, he kept his eye on him.

47 After a while, there came a sound from heaven, like it did on the day of Pentecost. And fire came like it did on the day of Pentecost, and it separated them, as it did Christ from the disciples at Pentecost.
But Elijah stepped on this chariot of fire, pulled by horses of fire, and went away. And while the young prophet was standing there, standing there looking up and hollering, "My Father, my Father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof," all of a sudden something dropped on him, fit him just exactly: the robe of Elijah.
That's the way it is today, brother, any man that looks up and says, "Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, You gave the promise." Be sincere in it and watch fits around you. It fit him exactly. What did he do? Took off his own garment and tore it to pieces. Television programs and all the nonsense is finished there. All the worldly things---the picture shows, the drinking, the smoking, the gambling, the lying, the dirty jokes, everything---is finished there. Tore his own robe to pieces and throwed it down, said, "I'm entering the ministry." Amen.

48 That's what we need today. He turned around, looked back then to the prophets. Amen. That's what's first. Get it on him, get the promise; get it down in your heart. Then he turned and looked towards... Also he was wearing a secondhanded robe, brother. But he was on his march of the conqueror, prayer behind him. How he felt as he marched down toward the Jordan. God be merciful, brother.
We're going to a Jordan tonight, too. We got to stand there at the Jordan. I'm glad to be wearing a secondhanded robe, too; not the robe of my own righteousness (because it wouldn't do any good), but the robe of His righteousness. I'm trusting in Him. He wore it, sent it back to me. I'm happy to have it.

49 I want to wrap myself in His righteousness.
I know there's a great shadow setting before us. Everyone of us is coming that way tonight, friends. Every time your heart beats, you're one step closer to that big door called death. One day you're going to make the last beat, and you're going in.
I realize as your evangelist and servant, I, too, have to go to that. I've got to come down, no matter how much I've preached about it. I've got to come down to it, but when I do, I don't want to come in my own wrapped-up righteous rags. When I see that my last beat's coming up, and I'm entering that door, I want to wrap myself in the robe of His righteousness, knowing this, that I know Him in the power of His resurrection, and when He calls from among the dead my name will be called. That's the main thing in my life tonight, is to know that I know Him in the power of His resurrection, that He lives and reigns. And I know Him by the forgiveness of sins, by His Spirit dealing, by Him moving and acting. I know that it's Him.

50 And as Elisha walked down there with the robe on, but when he got down there next to the river (Did you notice?), he took off the robe. The robe's all right.
And, brother, many people today are trying to march down to the Jordan wearing a secondhanded robe called Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian---moth-eaten by doubt, and holes all in it, and everything like that. Don't you never try to cross Jordan with that. That won't work. Certainly won't. The moths eat out.
Maybe John Wesley worked. That might've been good for his days, but don't you try to go upon the thoughts of being a Methodist. Don't you try to go upon John Smith's Baptist robe, either. Don't you go upon Martin Luther's Lutheran robe, or the Catholic priest and their robes. Don't you go on the Pentecostal, so called today.
But, brother, when Elisha got there, and we find out that he took off this robe of Elijah. It isn't some kind of a robe, but what did he do? He knowed all of them was watching him. He couldn't trust in the robe of Elijah, but he said, "Where is the God of Elijah?" Amen.

51 We got Pentecost, but where is the God of Pentecost? Where is the Pentecostal, resurrected Jesus Christ, Who proves Himself alive tonight among the people? Oh, you claim Pentecost in every church. You claim it in the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, so called the Assemblies, and the rest of them. But where is the God of Pentecost? That's the next thing. So, don't trust in that moth-eaten, thread-bare Pentecostal robe that you're wearing by name. It won't work.
Some other men might've wore it with a flame a few years ago, but, brother, it won't work with you. But it takes the God of Pentecost. Yes, sir.

52 And he stood by Jordan. Hallelujah. And he stood by Jordan and said, "Where is the God of Elijah?" He knowed He was close. Then when he took the robe and threw it across the waters, I tell you, she opened from one side to the other one. I wonder sometimes when the Pentecostal, and Baptists, and Presbyterians, and so forth, stand and see the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ moving in great power (who claim to kiss the cup of the golden blessings of God), how they can hold their peace and live the type of life they do.
And the God of Pentecost is a moving among the people. I wonder, friends, what we'll give an account at the day of the judgment. I wonder what'll take place at that time. If you'll only realize that Jesus Christ still lives and reigns.

53 The secondhanded robe, but when you come to Jordan you've got to have the God of Pentecost. He wanted the God of Elijah. If the servant of God does the work of God, he's got to have the power of God. If Pentecost is wearing a Pentecostal robe, it's got to have Pentecostal power and the God of Pentecost, or it won't do any good.
Call yourself Pentecost if you want to, but where's the God of Pentecost? That's right. Yes, sir. Where is He who appeared before them? Who is it that come down to Paul that night when he was out on a ship and all hopes was gone, but everything safe. And the Angel of the Lord come to him, said, "Don't fear Paul. Thou must be brought before Caesar. And lo, all these that sail with you, I give to you."
That little Jew come out on the deck there with arms all bound down with shackles and across his legs in chains, walked out there shaking his hands and saying, "Be of a good courage." Amen. "For the Angel of God, whose servant I am, stood by me last night, saying, 'Don't fear Paul.' And sirs, I believe God; it'll be just the way He told it to me." Yes, sir.

54 What we need is not Pentecost, but the God of Pentecost. You're coming to the Jordan, men and women. Each one of you is coming down to the Jordan. I don't know when that may be. It may be before daylight for some of us.
But I tell you: There's coming a time that when you're going to need more than a an old moth-eaten robe of some church. You're going to need the God that set that church afire in its early days. You're going to have to have the vision that they had in the early days, that wore this. But the new schools has come in, and the holes has been eat in it, of doubt and superstitions and theologies and things, till the thing is no good at all. Call for the God of Pentecost. That's what we need today, truly.

55 The servant of God has to call on God. He has to depend on God, not his church, not his robe. He has to depend on God. God's asking him to do the impossible. In order to do the impossible, he's got to call on God for power of God to perform the impossible. If we be the Messiah's servants, we have to have the Messiah's power.
And He promised it to us, "I am the vine; ye are the branches. I energize every branch that brings forth fruit." Hallelujah! There you are. There it is. Yes, sir.

56 And one of these mornings, I got to come to the river. And when I do... Probably all Branhams... If I live to be old, I hope I am, long beard and hair hanging around me... When I come to the end of the road and I know I've done my best, I've fought my last battle, I want to take off the helmet, lay it down on the beach right here at the Jordan beating against the side of it. Want to lay the shield down, take the old sword of faith, and stick it back in the sheath of eternity, and scream out, "God, send out the life boat; I'm coming home this morning."
As the poet said, "He can see Adam turn over and shake Eve and say, 'Honey, wake up. It's here.' Eve reached over and got a hold of Seth and said, 'Wake up, honey. He's here.' Seth took a hold of Abraham, said, 'Wake up, Abraham. It's here.'" There's going to be a great waking up time some of these mornings when the Jordan begins to beat the bank. I want to know the God who makes His way through the Jordan, instead of having on some moth-eaten robe.

57 As I was speaking not long ago concerning a certain thing that taken place in Switzerland. When I was in Switzerland about a year ago up in them great Swiss Alps there, there's a name that we used to know in history here; it's almost forgotten. You men and women about my age remembers when we had it in school. It was the history of Arnold Von Winkelried. What a mighty man.
In the days when Switzerland pulled away and went up in there, the little countries with no ore in the mountains, but they had little farms. They still live that way, a lovely, sweet people who love the Lord, way up in the mountaintop.

58 And then when the invading armies come in one day, all the Swiss gathered in a little field down at the foot of the mountain to protect their little mountain homes. And when the invading armies moving in---a great massive bunch, well trained, spears, armor... And every man, like a stone wall, moving to his place, coming right on in to destroy the Swiss, ravish their women, kill their babies, take over their homes, take what they had.
The little Swiss army gathered down there with nothing to fight with, pitchforks, and old scythe blades, and whatever they could pick up to fight with, no armor, nothing to fight with, but stood helpless by the side of a mountain. What did they do? All around them come this great army moving on like a big wall, moving in: tromp, tromp.

59 The little fellows standing there helpless. Finally that great dark, crucial hour, Arnold Von Winkelried stepped out and said, "Men of Switzerland, this day I give my life for Switzerland. This day I'll save Switzerland." Then, he said, "Over yonder's mountain is a little white home, and there is my lovely wife and my children waiting for me to return, but they'll never see me no more." Said, "For, this day I give my life for Switzerland."
They said, "What will you do, Arnold Von Winkelried?"
He said, "Just follow me and do the best you can with what you've got." What did he do? He screamed and threw his hands up in the air and dropped his a weapon and said, "Make way for liberty." And he looked, and he found where the deepest part of the spears was, and he run right into those spears, screaming with all of his voice, "Make way for liberty."
And he grabbed a armful of those spears and plunged right into his heart as he fell to his death. And such a gallant play of heroism rallied that army. And these men followed him just as hard as they could, fighting with what they could, and drove the armies out of their land and they've been free to this day.

60 Why, you can mention his name up there in Swiss, and the tears, little hot tears will run down their cheeks for their hero. Such a gallant display of heroism has seldom been seen on the earth. But that wasn't much.
Just like something else that took place one day. When mankind ... the sons of Adam was backed into the corner---diseases, affliction, and sin cankering them, eating them, driving them to hell like taskmasters; the devil had broke everything they'd tried. God sent them prophets. They just done away with the prophets. God sent them the judges. Done away with the judges, the kings. Everything, He had done every... He sent them the law. They didn't even keep it. Everything that could be done was done, and Adam's race stood helpless.

61 Sickness, diseases, affliction, sin, everything held the little group of Adam's race at bay, that no one could do nothing about it. And they were helpless. And the devil and his great marching army come marching in, well equipped, powerful, supernatural beings. Here stood a little natural people with nothing they could do. Then in heaven something took place. There was One stepped out called Jesus, the precious Son of God.
He said to the angels and His brethren, "This day I'll give My life. I'll save Adam's race." And He came down, and was made flesh, and dwelt among us.
One day standing yonder at Calvary, when He seen the thickest part that there is in any human life; the darkest part of the spears of human life is death. Every man fears death.
And when Jesus of Nazareth run against every devil there was in hell, and caught death right into his own bosom, and conquered death, and sent back the Holy Ghost, and said, "Take this and do the best you can and liberate the people."

62 I tell you: we got to fight, and we got the most powerful weapon. The devil makes fun of it and says, "There's no such a thing." But pick up tonight and receive the Holy Ghost and defeat every devil of sin, sickness, and whatever it is. We've got him on the run to be conquered. Yes, and someday, the great Chief Captain will come, and sin, and sickness, and sorrows will be over. It's conquered.
And we men have the Spirit in our own possession, as the vine ... the branches on the vine with the Spirit energizing the church with the Holy Spirit. And we're commanded to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel, and cast out devils, and lay their hands on the sick and they shall recover. "Lo, I am with you, leading the army to the end of the world and I'll show Myself alive. For I'll be the same yesterday, today, and forever." Amen.
Do you believe it, Church of God? If you believe it, let us accept it tonight with one full heart and believe with everything that we have within us to believe for the righteousness of Christ. Oh, how we listen to His Word. Faith cometh by hearing, hearing of the Word. Now, let us pray just a moment.

63 Our heavenly Father, as tonight we see the Captain of our salvation, the Lord Jesus in all of His splendor and power, anointed His church and sent them forth to preach the Gospel into all the world. Said, "These signs shall follow them that believe: In My name they shall cast out evil spirits. They'll do great signs and wonders. I'll be with them. I'll manifest Myself to them. I will show Myself alive, though believers will see Me to the end of the world, yet the unbelievers will see Me no more."
And, Father, that promise that You made is good today. I keep my eyes on that, as Elisha kept his eyes on Elijah. You said, "Lo, I am with thee always, even to the end of the world. The things that I do, shall you also. The works that I work, shall you work also." And I know that those promises are true. And tonight, we got our hopes and faith centered on that. You said You'd do it. Now, theology and Scriptural texts has been taught to people through the years, but it's evening time now. Now is the day of the restoration of all things.

64 And we pray, heavenly Father, that You'll manifest Yourself tonight here in great resurrection power with resurrection blessings. And may every person who knows and recognizes to be You, Lord, may they put their hopes on the promise, and see that You promised them that You'd raise from the dead, and You did. You said, "I'm alive forevermore." And You are. "And I will be with you, even in you, to the end of the world." And You are.
And You said the works that was done then would be done till You come again; and it is. And You're the same in every principle that You ever was. You are today. And we love You for it, Lord.
And may this church here and these people tonight see that You keep Your promise. Not only do You keep Your promise that You've raised and will meet with us, but You keep Your promise to heal the sick, to deliver the people from unclean spirits, to pour out the Holy Ghost upon the people that desire. And every promise in the Bible is true. It's the seed of God that's sowed into the human heart and believed by faith.
Grant, Lord, tonight, that You'll manifest Yourself. And when we leave here tonight, may we say like those who came from Emmaus, "Did not our hearts burn within us?" For we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

65 I believe God, believe that He is. And they that come to God must believe that He is and a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Now, to some of you newcomers here, it may be a little strange in a church like this. It may not ... they may not worship here and the people praising the Lord and saying the things that they do, acting maybe a little peculiar to you. But, friend, if you only had received what they have, you'd feel the same way. Turn back in the Bible and see it, see.

66 Today is the day, as I said about the prophets packing their Bibles, and impersonations. It's a great day of impersonations. Paint your steps red next week and find out what your neighbor will do. He'll paint his red, too. Wear a little black hat to church and find out what your neighbor will do. They'll wear a black hat, too. Get a new suit of clothes and see how nice it is, and watch your neighbor will ask where you got it. It's an impersonation. They want to match, want to be matched.
And, brother, I don't care if my trousers matches with my coat or my shirt matches my tie. I want my experience to match God's Bible. That's the kind of matching that the church ought to do. It's exactly right. My Lord raised from the dead, and He's alive tonight. He's your Lord also, and He's here to bless you and to help you.

67 And here's the way the Bible is to me. It's either the truth or it's an error. If it's an error, I want nothing to do with it. No, sir. I want to be that... If it's a error, I want nothing to do with it. If it's the truth, I'm ready to die for it. That's right. So, make it one or the other way. God speed the day when so-called Christians will either profess and be Christians, or either say what they are to begin with. I'd rather be an infidel than a hypocrite. That's right.
Be what you are. If you believe Christ, say, "Yes," and don't just, "Oh, I believe this, and I believe this, and I..." Either believe it all or believe none of it. It's either God's Word or it's not God's Word. If God didn't write it, then... If part of it's wrong, then the other part's wrong. That's right.

68 How many ever heard of Morris Reedhead? Anybody here? Why, he's the president of the great ... one of the greatest fundamental... Well, it's the big Sudan missions, the biggest in the world. He was standing after an Indian had been educated... (Just before we call the prayer line.) He'd been standing. Did I say... Was I speaking of that last night here, I believe, it was, wasn't it?
And Morris Reedhead, he's a friend of mine now. He's on the field preaching the Gospel, the full Gospel. And when he was... He said this Indian had been educated, and he was a fine boy. He come over here to study, I believe it was electrical engineering or something. He got his education, very smart, brilliant boy---a Mohammedan.

69 And when he started back to go back across the sea, Mr. Reedhead said to him, said, "Now, son," said, "You got your education. You're going back to be a great help to your country." Said, "Now, why don't you forsake that old dead prophet your serving and accept the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, and take Jesus back with you as your Saviour?"
So, the Mohammedan stood there a little bit. He said, "Kind, sir," he said, "what could Jesus do for me any more than Mohammed could do?" He said, "Now, they both wrote books, and we believe them. Ours is the Koran. Yours is called the Bible. You believe yours, and I believe mine. They both promise life after death. So, I believe Mohammed told the truth, and you believe Jesus told the truth. So, what good could Jesus do me outside of Mohammed, that Mohammed couldn't do?"
"Why," he said, "why, the first thing is," said, "you see, Mohammed is dead, and Jesus is alive." Said, "That's the difference."
And the Mohammedan said, "All right, sir. Is He alive?" Said, "I'd like to see you prove it."

70 So, Dr. Reedhead said, "I realized I hadn't met an overnight man. I met a man who knowed what he was talking about."
He said, "Is He alive?" Said, "No, He's dead, just exactly like Mohammed is dead." Said, "He isn't alive."
He said, "Why, wait a minute." Said, "We know He's alive." Said, "Because we feel Him in our heart, and we have joy of knowing He's coming again."
He said, "Now, just a moment, Mr. Reedhead. Mohammedan religion can produce just as much psychology as Christianity can." Said, "We have just as much happiness, and just as much shouting, and just as much joy, knowing that Mohammed will come someday as you do knowing Jesus is coming someday. What about that?" That's the truth.
Said, "Now, wait a minute." And Mr. Reedhead said, he knowed right then, said, "That boy ... he just wasn't a pushover."

71 And he said, "Well," he said, "but just a minute," the Mohammedan said to the Christian. He said, "Dr. Reedhead, kind sir," he said, "I don't want to make fun of your religion. I respect every man's religion." But he said, "You see, Mr. Reedhead," he said, "Mohammed only promised life after death." And said, "And that's what we believe in." But said, "Your Jesus promised you teachers that you'd do the same things He done if He raised from the dead." Said, "Now, we're waiting to see you teachers produce that, and then we'll believe He raised from the dead. Until you do that, He hasn't raised from the dead."
Well, he said he stood there a little bit, and he said, "Well, what do you mean, like healing of the sick?"
He said, "Yes, one thing."
He said ... Mr. Reedhead said, "Well now, you're probably referring to Mark the 16th chapter."
He said, "Yes, sir, that's one of them."

72 He said, "Well, Mark the 16th," said, "Now, the better scholars understand." Said, "Now, the illiterate kind of takes the rest of it, but," said, "we know that Mark 16th from the 9th verse on, where He said, they shall cast out devils, and speak with tongues, and lay hands on the sick and things." Said, "We realize; we better scholars know that that part of the Bible is not inspired. It was written by the Vatican, and it's not inspired."
You know what the Mohammedan said, he said, "It isn't? What kind of a Bible are you reading?" Said, "All the Koran's inspired."
That's the weakness of Christianity (so-called). He said, "Then what about Mark 11, 'Whatsoever things you desire?' What about this when He said, 'The things that I do shall you also.'"
He said, "Well, He said, 'The works that I do...' Well," he said, "you see, we preach the Gospel to all the world." Said, "That's the greater works."
He said, "You have. You've had two thousand years to prove that He's alive, and two thirds of the world never heard His name." Said, "Let Mohammed raise from the dead and everybody will know it in twenty-four hours."

73 Ah-ha, you talk about a defeat. And Dr. Reedhead said, "Mr. Branham," he said, "I kicked my foot in the dust."
He said, "Now, sir, when you prove that He's alive and let me see Him do the works with you His teachers that He promised that you would do, then I will believe you. And the Mohammedans will believe you." And that's the truth. I've seen it proved. And I know they will. That's what the world wants. America's all polished up with so much education, they stand and hear the mister, doctor, PhD Jones and all with their great, talking about the flowers and the things.

74 Mercy, goodness.
What we need is the Gospel. And the Gospel is the power and demonstration of the Holy Ghost. That's what the world... We've went and built churches. Jesus never did say, "Build a church." Show me the Scripture. We went and built schools. He never did say, "Build schools." We built hospitals. He never did say, "Build hospitals." Yet, we done it. That's all right. I ain't got nothing against it. We've done it.
But He never said do that. We done the things that He said ... the very things He told us not to do, we did it, or the things that He told us to do, we refuse to do it. Let's preach and demonstrate the power of the Gospel. That's the reason two thirds of the world has never heard it.

75 And he ... Mr. Reedhead standing there in the room, he said, in my own room, he said, "Brother Branham," he said, "I've seen the Pentecostals and kick over furniture, and tear it up, and everything like that." But said, "I heard that there..." Said, "I have enough degrees I could plaster your wall." Said, "When I was a little boy, seven years old, I started studying the Scripture. I gave my life to Christ."
Said, "When I thought I got my BA, that would be Christ in that." Said, "I got my BA; it wasn't so." Said, "Then, when I was ordained, it wasn't so." Said, "When I got my LLD, I thought that would do it. I've got every kind of degree can be thought of, an honorary degrees, till I could plaster your wall." But said, "Where's Christ in all of it? Has the teachers been wrong?"
I said, "I don't want to say the teachers are wrong, sir. But I say one thing they've left out: the keynote. They've left out the cornerstone. Christ doesn't lay in BA's or DD's, or LD's; Christ lays in the power of His resurrection to a heart that will receive Him.

76 He said, "Mr. Branham, could I receive the Holy Ghost right here?"
I said, "If you'll meet it on God's conditions."
He said, "I don't care what it is. I want to know Christ." There I laid hands on him and prayed there in the room, and he fell under the power of God and the little coffee table there, broke the glass out of it, and received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, and is preaching divine healing today on the field: Dr. Morris Reedhead.

77 When I was at Chattanooga, Tennessee, to my friend Don Wells, the biggest Baptist church in the south, and he received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And over two hundred of those people has received the baptism of the Holy Ghost in that Baptist church.
A few weeks ago when a Lutheran dean of psych ... a dean up there of a big school come down and criticized me when I said the devil couldn't heal. And made fun of me upon the Word, saying the devil couldn't heal.
He said, "Well, I'll just prove to you that the devil can heal." Said, "We got a woman lives in town with a familiar spirit." And said, "The people come to her and she pulls hair out of her head, and plucks their veins, and gets blood on it, walks down to the river and throws it over her shoulder, and she walks back to the house. If she's ... happens to turn around and looks, the disease comes back to the people, if it does she casts away." And said, "About thirty percent of them get well. Then you say the devil can't heal." Said, "I'm ashamed of you. I was preaching the Gospel before you was born." Said, "You get a little age on you yet." Of all my forty-seven years... He said, "I've preached the Gospel fifty years."
I said, "And I'm ashamed of you, then. And know no more about the Scripture than that." I said, "Certainly, the woman ... the people got well; but not the witch had nothing to do with it."

78 There's people in the land today, say, "I got healing in my hand. Feel it, feel it, feel it.", and all this stuff like that. It's nonsense. It's psychology.
But the poor people that's approaching ... coming, they're thinking they're approaching God, and God has to honor faith; I don't care where it's at. And they approach God through the witch. They think that they're coming to God, coming through there. And God's got to honor that faith.
That's the reason He said, "In that day, many will come and say, 'Have not I cast out devils and things in Your name?'" And so forth.
And that man when he heard that, he said, "I want you to come to my college." Mr. Boze is a witness of this, right there at Minneapolis, a Lutheran college.

79 I went out there, and my manager went with me, we sat down there to a great big place of the Scandinavians there, all sitting there, these Lutheran students.
He said, "Mr. Branham, I've watched the meetings, and I apologize when I said that you was a polished-up soothsayer." He said... That's what he called me, a polished-up soothsayer. He said, "I apologize to it, and I want you to tell me how me and this school can receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost."
I said, "What's the Lutheran church going to do?"
He said, "I don't care what the Lutheran church says. I want God."
I said, "Do all of you feel the same way?"
Said, "Yes."
I said, "Move back your chairs from the table and get around the wall and lean against the wall and start praying." I went along and laid hands on them, and seventy-two Lutheran students---with the dean---received the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That's at Minneapolis, Minnesota. That's right.

80 What is it? Men and women are hungering for God. The day is here. The Holy Ghost is here. Jesus is here, raised from the dead. Don't speak against It, it's blasphemy, but receive Him. He's here tonight. I believe Christ. Don't you? Yes, sir.
There is a counterfeit. Certainly. What makes the real, real? It's because there is a counterfeit. If I seen a bogus dollar, I'd know there'd have to be a real one it was made off of. So, certainly the devil gives impersonation, but there's a real genuine baptism of the Holy Spirit, a real resurrected Lord Jesus, who's true to His Word; every word He said, He's true.

81 Now, let us be in prayer. Now, friends, one more thing. And then, I think tomorrow night, I'll just either preach or call the prayer line. I keep you too late. But I want to ask you something. How many was here at the meeting last night? Let's see your hands. How many was not? Let's see your hands. Oh, my. It's just... Where's all them that was here last night?
Here's what it is, friend. Listen, just a moment. If a man ever tells you that he's a healer, he's wrong. I'll have to take a moment to explain this to you newcomers.

82 Listen, there is no man that's a healer. Christ is the healer, see. And it's only our faith in the finished work of Christ at Calvary. It's our personal faith. Salvation, and healing, and every redemptive blessing was included, and every blessing in the redemption was everything that was caused in the fall. Everything we lost in the fall, was restored to us in Calvary.
What is sickness? Attribute of sin. So, you can't deal with sin without dealing with sickness, 'cause sickness came after sin which was an attribute of sin. Exactly right. Now, don't say that God makes the people sick, 'cause you cross up your questions there like the Lutheran did, see. So, you can't do that.

83 Someone said the other day, a minister talking to me, said, "Oh, it's such a blessing, Brother Branham. Oh, I've seen the most patient people laying in wheelchairs." And said, "God wants them to be sick. He lets them be sick, so He can show His blessings."
I said, "Then, if that's the truth, then Jesus Christ defeated the very purpose of God when He come to earth. He healed everyone He come in contact with, like [unclear words]." Right.
Oh, brother, that's too thin. See, it just don't work. You just might as well face the fact that you don't believe the Bible and just say so, and that's all, because... Or either afraid to step out and challenge God to His promise like Elijah did. That's true.

84 Now, what is Christ? He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And when He was here on earth, He did not claim to be a healer. Did He? No, sir. Said, "It's not Me. It's My Father that dwells in Me. He does the healing." Is that right?
And when He stood there, and they questioned Him about the man of Saint John 5:19, (we had last night), packing his bed on his shoulder like this... And He was questioned about it, when He went through all those afflicted people and healed this one man and walked away. He was questioned. (And we went through that last night.) How He'd be questioned here.
But what did Jesus say? "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing in Himself (Is that right?) but what He sees the Father doing, that doeth the Son likewise." How many Bible readers knows that that's the truth, Jesus said that?

85 Now, Jesus, according to His own Word, did nothing until first He saw a vision of the Father doing it. Is that right? Saint John 5:19, "Verily, verily (that's absolutely, absolutely), I say to you, I do nothing in Myself; but what I see the Father doing, then I go do what He shows Me to do. The Father worketh; I worketh hitherto." Now, just a moment, then we'll start the prayer line.
When He was here on earth, He did not claim to heal the people. The only thing He did, He watched and seen what the Father told Him. And the Father...

86 One day Philip went and got Nathanael, thirty miles around the mountain, brought him back to where Jesus was when He was standing. Just one quotation...
And when he come back, Jesus looked and seen them. They might have been in the prayer line or out in the audience, wherever it was. And Jesus looked at them, and He looked at Philip ... Nathanael and He said, "Behold, an Israelite in whom there's no guile." Why, it astonished him. How did He know he was an Israelite, and how did He know he was a believer, an orthodox?
Why, he said, "How did You know me, Rabbi?"
He said, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the tree praying yesterday, I saw you."
Now, what did the Israelite say? He said, "You're the Son of God, the King of Israel."
Jesus said, "Because I told you that, you believe Me? You'll see greater things than this."

87 Now, what did the Jewish believer believe? The great high church as we have today, they said, "He's a fortuneteller. He's Beelzebub." Is that right? And said, "That's what He is. He's a soothsayer or Beelzebub. He's reading their mind. It's mental telepathy."
What did Jesus say to them? He said, "You say that against Me, I'll forgive you; but when the Holy Ghost is come and does the same thing, if you speak a word against that, it'll never be forgiven in this world or the world to come." Because they said He has an unclean spirit (Is that right?), calling the works of God an unclean spirit.
Now, He said, "These things that I do shall you also. I will be with you to the end of the world." Now, that's either the truth or it's an error. I believe that He's raised from the dead. And if He comes tonight and does the same thing here amongst you people that He did when He was here on earth amongst groups like this, will you receive Him? Will you say, "I will receive Him and believe Him, and believe that He is living and will give to me what I have need of"?

88 Now, it's hard after speaking or preaching the way I did. Didn't aim to speak that long. But it just happened that I did it. So now, we'll ask God to be with us. Now, I believe the boys give out, they said, a hundred cards. And last night we took the first part of them. And tonight, let's start with the second part of the hundred cards, and we'll... And tomorrow night, we'll start from somewhere else in them, and the next night, somewhere else, and just wherever we go like that.
Now, let's begin tonight with fifty. All right, just look down on your prayer card and find out who has prayer card 50. Would you raise up your hand, someone? Lady, come right here. Fifty-one, would you...? [Gap in the audio.]

89 Brother Branham, it's submitting yourself to the Holy Spirit, just giving yourself over. Now, no matter how much He tried to work with me, He's got to work with you, too. If you can't submit yourself to Him, then He can't work through you. It's your faith. It's your faith. And if you're ever healed, it'll be your own personal faith in Christ. It cannot be any healing that I have, 'cause men are not healers. Not even a doctor is a healer. There's not one medicine that'll heal. I'll prove that to you tomorrow.
I want you to bring me the doctor and says that medicine does heal; show you how funny he acts. There's not one medicine that will cure a simple bad cold. Thousands die every year with bad colds. Nothing that'll cure... Christ is the only healer. "I'm the Lord who heals all thy diseases." Never did a hospital, never did a medicine; God does it all.
Give one this medicine, it'd kill him, then the other one would get well---same medicine, both same diseases. The Lord is the healer.

90 Now, is this the patient? Are you the lady? All right, you come here just a minute. Now, I want to look through the prayer line first, right along here. Now, I'm a stranger to you people, not a stranger in a way of brother and sister, but I'm a stranger to you as human beings knowing each other. I don't believe there's a person in the building I know except my brother sitting here, Gene, that's taking the tape recordings. My daughter-in-law there and my son, Brother Joseph, and Brother Hudson here is about the only ones that I see that I know in the entire church.
Now, you don't have to be here on the platform to be healed. You can be healed right where you're at. You don't have to be ministered to by the Holy Spirit here at the platform. You can speak there.

91 A woman run through the crowd one time and touched His garment, went back, and sat down, and denied that she did it. But Jesus said, "I got weak." He looked around till He found her. And He told her that her blood issue was healed. Is that right? Sure.
Now, is He the same today? If He is, He'll do the same today. Then, we got a High Priest that can be touched by the feeling of our infirmities. So, He can heal today you where you're at. All right.

92 Now, the lady standing here by the side of me is a stranger and I don't know her. She doesn't know me. Therefore we're just standing here. She's a Christian; I'm a Christian; first time meeting in life. And here's a very picture again tonight of a Bible scene, a woman at the well. How many ever heard the story? Now, let's see if Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
The Father told Him to go up not... He was going down to Jericho, but He went up the way of Samaria. And when He sat down on the well up there, a woman come out which was a Samaritan, getting some water, and He said to her, "Bring Me a drink." Wonder why He said that?
She said, "It's not customary for you Jews to ask Samaritans such. We have no dealings."
He said, "But if you knew who you were talking to, you'd ask Me for a drink." He went to talking with her. Is that true? Get the conversation. What was He doing? Catching her spirit. Then He found what her trouble was. Did He? He said, "Go, get your husband."
She said, "I don't have any husband."
He said, "That's right. You got five. And the one you have now is not your husband."

93 Now what did she say? Now, listen real close now. What did she say? To you newcomers? She said, "I perceive that You are a prophet." Now, she said, "We know when the Messiah cometh, He will tell us these things, but Who are You?"
He said, "I'm He."
If that was the sign of the Messiah then, it's the sign of the Messiah today, if He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Is that right?
Now, here's exactly the same scene exactly. Now, here's the woman standing here. God sent me up to New York. I don't know. He just sent me up here. Here's a woman comes up on the platform. I never seen her, know nothing about her. She's standing here.

94 Now, the Messiah can, through a divine gift, come down and reveal to this woman what she's standing here for, what her trouble is, the same as He did to that woman. If He would do it, would it still be the sign of the Messiah to you all? Would you believe it? You that's never seen it, would you believe it? Raise your hands and say, "I believe it."
Now, the lady be the judge. Now, if He knows you, sister, and you know I don't know you, do I? No, I'm a stranger. And if He can reveal to you your trouble or what you're here for... I don't know, you know that. But if He can reveal through me ... to me what you're here for, would you believe that you would get what you ask for? You would believe it? Well, may the Lord grant it. I want everyone quiet now. Be real quiet and be real reverent.

95 Now, just merely... The lady is conscious that something's going on. And if anybody... Brother, have you ever showed the picture of that Angel of the Lord yet here? They've seen it. Okay. Now, that's just what's right around close to her now, see. That Light, it moves in; the lady comes in. (If they can still hear me.) The lady is going from me.
And I see her. She's suffering with a tremendous nervous condition---real, real nervous. And then, she's got something on her hands, not visible, but it's a breaking out, a rashing like, that bothers her that's caused from this nerve condition. That's true. Is that right, lady? If that's right, raise up your hand, if that's right. All right, all right.

96 Now, do you believe? Now watch, if I would talk to her more, more would be said. But it just breaks me into perspiration. It's so weakening. It's a vision. Now, right now the only way that'd I know what was wrong with her is run that tape back and find it (See?), of what He said to her. But there was something.
Now, just to talk with the woman, so that you might know that there's something different. Just to talk to her, maybe He would show something else. It's just catching her spirit, yielding myself to the Holy Spirit, and Him standing between us, and just yielding. And He takes me and just begins to use my voice talking.

97 He said He'd set in the church apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, and pastors. So, we can't say one and not the other. And I'm not much of a preacher, but I was called. This I was born to do. In all my life, it's come. Never one time has it failed, and never will because it's of God.
Now, the lady ... it seems like if He would speak with her again, by His grace. She moves from me. And I see her again. She's walking the floor, real nervously like. And she's looking on her hands. There's something on her hand which is a breaking out, a rashing. And then she has something like a trouble in her head. It hurts like a ... it's a sinus trouble she has in her head. And then again, she has a stomach trouble, which is a tumor in her stomach. And that was caused by a fall. That's exactly right.
Now, do you believe me to be His servant, madam [unclear words] now. Now, that's Him, the One that was at the well. Now, could I heal the woman? Certainly not. I could pray for her. I can pray, but I can't heal her. Now, let us pray for her.
Heavenly Father, whatever this woman is in need of, if Satan has bound her, we, through the name of Jesus Christ, take the initiative. And ask for Him to leave this woman and be cast out in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Now, go rejoicing and being happy, lady. All right, lady.

98 Now, that ought to settle it. That ought to settle it that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible said, "If thou canst..." You say, "Oh, she's emotional." Probably if you was healed of the same thing, you'd be a little emotional too. If you was only standing with a open heart... Watch the expression on their face when they believe. They can't stand in that Presence without knowing it, see. It's not me; it's Him.
Now, as she's giving thanks to God, now, I challenge every person in here in the name of Jesus Christ to look this way, and believe with all your heart, and see if God don't call you to Him, see. I mean, how many hasn't got a prayer card and wants to be healed? Let's see your hands. Without prayer cards, raise up your hand, everywhere. See, there you are. Why, it's just everywhere.

99 Now, you look this way, you without prayer cards, that's not going to be in the line. You just believe; have faith.
Now, the little lady standing here is a stranger to me. I never seen her in my life, as far as I know. Are we strangers to each other? We are. Now, if there's something wrong with you, I don't know it. But God does know it. He knows ... He knowed you before the foundation of the world. He knows everything that you've had in your life. He knows what you're here for.
If He'd just tell me what you're desiring of Him, would you accept it and believe it? If something that you... It may be finances; it may be domestic; it may ... I don't ... maybe sickness. I don't know. He does. Now, the miracle is... Now, if I'd say, "Here's a man twisted up in a wheelchair." You'd look and say, "Oh, yeah, sure. I see that." But here looks like a healthy woman. What's she here for?

100 Maybe she's a deceiver. If it is, watch what happens to her, see. See, if it would be, see. Watch what happens. How many ever seen it happen when a deceiver come to the platform? Yes, sir. One come to the platform, tried to bewitch me one night. Well, a guy that went around army camps throwing spells on people, make them bark like a dog and things like that. Then the Holy Spirit turned around, said, "You child of the devil." And he was paralyzed right there, and that's been three years, four years ago, and he's still paralyzed today, see. Yes, sir.
Don't you try... It's not playing church. You're in the presence of the Holy Ghost, see. It's not man, it's Him. We may be uneducated and a simple people, but that's what God has called us to the ministry to do this. And this is His work.

101 Now, the little lady, I wished I could help you some way, sister. If I could and wouldn't do it, I'd be a brute, you know that. But I want to help you. I want to see the Lord do something good for you.
Now, if I could just yield myself to the Holy Spirit. I say, "Now, you are a Christian though," 'cause your spirit is coming to me, see. Now, now that I have your spirit under my control (See), you couldn't hide your life if you had to now (See), ' cause it's before God.

102 And I see that you are ... you're real nervous, too. And you got ... your trouble is ... you got trouble with your head. It's in your neck and in your shoulders and back. It was caused from a fall you had and done that. That's right, isn't it? Now, do you believe with all your heart? You believe that you're healed now and going to be well? Come forward.
Almighty God, Creator of heavens and earth, Author of everlasting life, bless this woman who I bless in Thy name, and ask for her healing through Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Now, God bless you. Go, and may the Lord Jesus bless you and give you the best of His kingdom.
Now, be real reverent. Don't... Just be real reverent. Believe with all your heart.

103 Jesus said, "I can, if ye believe." But first you got to believe.
Just a moment. If our colored brother there would just step back to one side. There's a vision moving right in there, right down there. It's a lady praying. I see it. Yes, nervousness and a female trouble... You believe that Jesus Christ make you well? Right across, now, lay your hand over on the lady next to you there. Right there, right there. No, the lady next to you. That's it, see. No, the lady with the red hat on, lay the hand on the lady right there, see. All right.
Now, heavenly Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, we ask for this deliverance. I pray that Almighty God will bring it to pass just now, through the glory of God in Jesus' name. Amen.

104 I couldn't see but one woman, but this woman looked young, and the other one looked old, and I couldn't make out where it was at. And it was up over the man. I could see the vision. It was a little lady sitting on the end. All right. You can get to your place now. God bless you, lady. Your simple little faith touched His garment. Wasn't you sitting there praying for that end? You was sitting there praying for that, wasn't you? If that's right, raise ... stand up to your feet if you was praying for that, so the people will know that, see.
How would I know what she was praying about? Praying for me to call you, that's the reason He did it. Amen. Now, you're healed and can go home and be well. Amen. God bless you. What did it? The woman touched His garment. She didn't touch me. She touched Him. He just used my voice to speak back. We are the branches. He's the Vine. It was His; went through, He just used our voice as He uses our eyes and our hands and so forth.

105 Now, the lady here is a stranger to me. I don't know her, never seen her in my life. We're perfectly strangers. Are we? That's right. Now, I'm glad that the colored sister is standing here, 'cause there's many colored people here tonight. And you can see that God is no respect of persons, nationality. He made us all. Our colors and things has nothing to do with it.
He told the woman at the well... Here's a perfect picture of the woman at the well again. Here's a white man and a colored woman. See, just exactly: a Jew and a Samaritan. And today in the south, they have a segregation, like that they had then. They had a segregation then, the Jews and Samaritans. But Jesus let her know that God didn't care about their segregation. God, when they talked... All men must worship Him in Spirit and truth.

106 All right. Us being total strangers, knowing not each other, God knowing us both. If He will reveal to me what you're standing there for, will you believe it? Will the rest of you colored people believe it out there with all your heart, if God will do this to your colored sister? All right. May the Lord bless us. Again a contrast, two nationalities of people, see what I mean, and the same Lord Jesus Who loves us both.
Your trouble is in your side. It's not big. It's a growth, a little fatty tumor in your right side at the waistline. That's right. The minute you put your hand on it, before I spoke about it, may the Lord grant something else so that the audience and the colored people will see that it's of the Lord Jesus. Do you believe with all your heart?
You're not from right around here. You're from a place called, Jamaica, New York. And here, your name is Esther and Lewison. That's right. Is that right? You believe me to... You say He knowed Peter and them. You believe He's the same Christ? All right, go on your road, sister, and the Lord Jesus make you well in Jesus' name. Amen.

107 You believe with all your heart? You can have what you ask for if thou canst believe.
Little lady, sitting there praising the Lord, sister, you suffer with a trouble that's ... it's sleepless, nervous. Take sleeping pills to go to sleep. Isn't that right? All right, do you believe that Jesus Christ will make you well? You accept it? Sitting there praying and believing, raise your hand up if that's right. All right, see. All right, go home and sleep tonight. I send you in Jesus Christ's name. Amen.
Have faith in God. Don't doubt, but believe. All things are possible to them that believe. Jesus said, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to them that believe." But first, you must believe.

108 If you believe, lady, that hernia and nervous trouble would leave you. If you believe, sitting there with a red coat behind you, if you'd believe with all your heart, Jesus Christ would make you well.
You say, "You're reading her mind." No, sir. Her faith touched the Lord Jesus. That's right. "If thou canst believe..." The conditions are, if you can believe. It's not for unbelievers. It's for those who will believe. Amen.
Got high blood pressure, haven't you? But if you'll believe with all your heart, Jesus Christ will make you well. Sitting next to you, you got leg trouble, trouble with the leg sitting there. But Jesus Christ can make you well if you believe it. Amen. Amen.

109 Here He moves here. Oh, how marvelous. "If thou canst believe," is what He said. Do you believe, lady? With all your heart? If God will reveal to me what you're here for, lady, will you believe me to be His servant? Now, here's what the Angel, "If you can get the people to believe you..." Not believe me as Him, but believe that He sent me to help you. I'm just His voice, see. I'm just His voice by vision, just like looking at anything you see. You believe it. God bless your heart. All right, may the Lord grant you your request.
You have a real good one, lady. The first thing, you're nervous as you'd actually be. Then you're seeking something. You're seeking God. ["Yes."] You want a closer walk with God. ["Yes."] You want the baptism of the Holy Ghost. ["Yes."] That's... Yes, and you [The lady speaks.] But you ... but see [The lady speaks]. It's going to leave you, and you'll get the Holy Ghost.

110 Now look, Eve was seeking new light when Satan deceived her. So now, be careful, go forward; I want to pray for you that God will give you the baptism of the Holy Ghost and give you your desires. Come here.
Lord Jesus, grant this woman's blessing, and may she receive the Holy Spirit. Even in her own home this night, it's possible Lord, or here at the church. Grant that she will receive it in Christ's name, I ask it. Amen. Now, go believing, sister. He knows it. He knows what you're after, or He wouldn't reveal it to me. Now, God [The sister talks to Brother Branham]. Yes, sister. Uh-huh. Yes. Yes. Maybe that's what He did right there, you see. You'll be all right. Just go and believe God; you go and believe with all your heart.

111 Come, little fellow. A fine little boy. Well, I'm sure we're strangers to each other. I want to ask you something, sonny. You seem like a fine-looking little fellow. Now, did you know Jesus said, "Suffer little children to come unto Me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of God."? A little child is a pattern of the kingdom of God. He said, "Suffer them to come unto Me and forbid them not."

112 Now, if Jesus was here today, and you come down to where He was... You heard He was down here in Brooklyn, and you come to Him, and He come to you, now, He would know you, wouldn't He? He would know what was your. [Gap in the audio.] ... long to get in here. It just looks like when I turn, like when the anointing strikes. I don't mean to try to explain it. You cannot explain it. I know no more about it than you do. But it just looks like it's dipping from one to the other one. Just like He would like to call you. But if you just break that crust of the shadow of doubt (You see?); that's the only thing that's keeping you from receiving it. Now, look to Him.
This darling little boy standing here. He's probably sick or something. I don't know. He's standing here. But that poor little baby boy... Now, may the Lord grant it. And if He will, how many will make Him a promise tonight... If God... Let the little boy be the judge. If God, if He will speak to that child and tell him his life, or his future, or whatever...
Now, if I come here and said, "Oh, the Lord says you're going to get well." Well, you have a right to doubt that. But when the Lord comes around, and I tell you, "Next week you're going to be better, and two weeks from now, you're going to be well." You'd have a right to doubt that. But when the Lord comes down and tells you what you was, beforehand, you know whether that's right or not, see. You know that. Then He tells you what's going to be. You can believe it, 'cause it'll be just as true as the other was. He's God.

113 Now, how many will say to God, "This night I will throw away every shadow of doubt and believe you, if You'll reveal this little boy and let us see that You're the same resurrected Lord Jesus in all Your power, I'll accept it." Let's see your hands go up to God now. You're making this promise. All right. Just may the Lord Jesus grant it. All through the balcony, every one of you.
Now, here's a little boy. You know how good... I seen him stand here with a neat little coat on, and his little tie, and his little trousers. You know where my mind is going to? Way down in the native home in South Africa. The little fellows down there maybe never had on clothes. They don't even know which is right and left hand. And that's the reason, friends, I leave the American people. My heart burns for Africa.

114 They come out there... I seen thirty thousand raw heathens with idols in their hands accept Jesus Christ as personal Saviour at one time. The Lord has give us a great ministry among the colored there. I'm going back.
A few nights ago, a young colored girl came to the platform, and she just had to walk like this. And I said, "Lord, if You will only grant to this young girl her desire..." Because just before, I seen them fields of Africa waving like that, in a vision. And I couldn't see the girl because of that. Just look like a call to Africa. And the Holy Spirit come down and told her that she had had a automobile accident and had severed the nerve in her head here. And she could not hear, or could not speak, or could not move one side.
And I said, "Holy Spirit, if You'll make a sign before this massive audience tonight, that You'll give this girl her perfect soundness, I will make arrangements to return to Africa."
And no more than said that, till the girl let out a scream, and throwed both arms loose, and went perfectly normal, with a severed nerve, that's cut apart, hollering, "Mother, mother, mother. Oh, it's so good." Like that again."

115 Now, here stands a little boy. I don't know nothing about him. But now, you're under promise to God, and I under promise to God myself as yielding.
Now, sonny boy, I just want to talk to you a minute, not making you a... I just want to see the Holy Spirit heal everybody at once, you know what I mean. All right.
Now, the little boy, I'm just looking to you. Like Peter, James and John ... Peter and John passed through the gate called, Beautiful, in the Bible. And they said to the lame man, said, "Look on us." That don't mean to look to them to be something, but to pay attention to what they were saying, see. "Look on us."
And Elijah, the prophet, said, "If it wasn't I respected the presence of Jehoshaphat, I wouldn't even look to you." But he said, "Bring me a minstrel." And the Spirit come on...

116 [Gap in the audio.] ... muscles. He's got a muscle trouble. And he's been everywhere. I see him going to doctors, and the doctors don't even know what caused it or what it is. And I see him from hospital, in and out; it's different hospitals. He's even had an operation for it, and nothing done him any good. It's a curse of the devil. That's true; isn't it, sonny? If that's true, raise up your hand to God.
Now, to heal him, I can't. But God can. That's right. The boy is shadowed, see. But only God can make it. And you in this room, there's many here that's shadowed. But God can take the curse away. "In My name, they shall cast out devils." Jesus Christ is here. Do you believe it? Then let's all you receiving and be healed. Will you believe it, everyone of you?
While I pray for the lad, then, you lay your hands on each other, and let's see what the Holy Spirit will do. In the prayer line, everywhere, lay your hands on one another. Come here, laddie. Bow your heads everywhere. Be real consecrated to God.

117 Oh, heavenly Father, the Author of life, the giver of every good gift, send of Thy blessings upon this people. And Thou art here moving among the people in the prayer line, out in the audience, everywhere. And the people recognizes that You're here. They know that man cannot do these things, when it's been preached to them by the Bible, that Jesus of Nazareth has raised from the dead and showing Himself alive.

118 Here stands a little boy, standing here, a little Ethiopian boy. And the devil has bound him. Oh, Satan, you've hid from the doctor, but you can't hide from God. I adjure thee by the living God to come out of him and leave this boy alone. Get from him. We come in the name of Christ, standing as a representative of Christ's death and vicarious suffering. Here He is, resurrection, and He's here in our midst tonight.
And you know that, so you're exposed, and come out of this audience. Leave this people, thou demon. We have charged thee through Jesus Christ's name to leave the people and come out of them. In the name of Jesus Christ.
Now, everybody that believes with all your heart, keep your heads bowed, your eyes closed. Say this, "Lord Jesus, come into my heart, move all the shadow of doubt. This old moth-eaten robe of doubt, I cast it away. I wrap myself by faith in the Holy Ghost. I'm the seed of Abraham. I call those things which were not as though they were. I believe I'm healed. I confess Christ."
Satan, come out of these people in Jesus Christ's name. Rise up; give God praise.